Detroit Tigers: Analyzing Mark Fidrych’s Usage in the Summer of “The Bird”
Fans Flock to See Fidrych
Once the fans took note of Fidrych, they started flooding into stadiums. The Tigers noticed. Whether it was Houk’s decision on his own or he got instruction from the front office, it appears that Fidrych’s schedule was altered to give him as many starts at home as possible. During the season, he started 18 games at home and 11 on the road.
Looking at the attendance numbers for the Tigers in 1976, it appears that fans started to take notice after Fidrych’s first two starts. His third start was June 11, against the Angels, at home on a Friday night. There was a crowd of 36,377 for that game. The next two days had crowds between 24,000 and 25,000. His fourth start was on the following Wednesday. After drawing 16,095 on Monday and 13,834 on Tuesday, the Tigers had 21,659 on Wednesday for Fidrych’s start.
Fidrych’s next start was the Monday Night Baseball game at home against the New York Yankees that drew 47,855. The following day, still at home, the Tigers drew 21,350. They went on the road for a two game series with the Orioles before coming back to Detroit for two more games against the Orioles. Fidrych started the first of this two-game set and 51,032 fans showed up. The next day was a 4th of July game that drew 14,454.
As the team neared the all-star break, fans kept packing Tigers Stadium when “The Bird” was scheduled to pitch. Fidrych started two games of a seven game home stand that spanned the all-star break from July 10 through July 18. In Fidrych’s two starts, the team drew 51,041 and 45,905. In the other five games of this home stand, the Tigers averaged 23,636 fans per game.
It would continue like this over the rest of the season, and not just in Detroit. Fans at Tigers’ away games started to show up en masse to catch a glimpse of “The Bird.” In a two-game road series against the Twins on July 19-20, the game Fidrych started drew 30,425 fans. The other game drew 5,005. Later in the month, the Tigers played in Cleveland. For a Friday night game that Fidrych did not start, the attendance was 13,273. Fidrych was on the mound the next day and 37,405 fans showed up.
Even Yankees fans wanted to see the kid from Detroit. In early August, the Tigers played a two-game series in New York. On Monday, the attendance was 22,245. With “The Bird” on the mound the next day, attendance more than doubled to 44,909. At the end of August, the Tigers had a three game set in Oakland. The first game was on a Friday and drew 5,884 fans. The attendance for the Saturday game was 9,252. The third game of the series drew 25,659. Guess which one “The Bird” started. Back in New York for a series against the Yankees in the middle of September, the game started by “The Bird” drew 52,707. The other games in the series averaged 21,443 fans.
It was incredible what a drawing card Fidrych was. Fans across the country just loved watching him pitch, as did the hometown fans in Detroit. The Tigers average attendance per game in 1976 was 19,728. In the 16 games Fidrych started once fans began to take notice, they averaged 35,825. Twelve of the 14 largest crowds at Tigers Stadium that year were games started by Mark Fidrych.
Next: Riding the Rookie Down the Stretch