Comments on: Column: Remembering The Bird

By: Bruce Laidlaw

Bruce Laidlaw — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:54:34 +0000

I last saw the Bird when I was running around the track at the U of M track and tennis building. the Bird was throwing pitches, but he stopped to clown for a little boy. The kid wasn’t sure whether to laugh or run away.

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By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:57:22 +0000

By: MK

MK — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:31:40 +0000

I was a huge baseball fan as a kid…I lost my enthusiasm for the game during the strike in the 80s and it never came back, but in 1976, I was 12 years old. I remember that summer because it was the Bicentennial that year and it was the year of the Bird.

I went to the very first game he pitched in the majors – it was in May and he pitched a 2 hitter. Soon after, I got a “Bird” T shirt. It was bright yellow with a rubbery iron on decal on the front – I made sure to dry it turned inside out so the decal wouldn’t come off. The Detroit Free Press also printed an iron on that you could make your own T shirt. I did that, too.

The Bird’s passing (even though it was premature) makes me feel very old. End of an era for me – my favorite Tiger of all time is now dead.

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By: Sue Lackey

Sue Lackey — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:25:08 +0000

“The Bird” was the perfect baseball player for the time. Slightly goofy and highly, if eccentrically, talented, he provided relief from a rotten economy, cynical political system and war. We could use a new Bird.

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By: Sandi Smith

Sandi Smith — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:22:06 +0000

I remember my older brother taking my sister and I down to see The Bird pitch. We got to the ball park and the game was sold out! We calculated his likely next starts at home and bought tickets. We were not dissappointed. He was a character on the field as well as an ace on the mound.

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