Goodbye, Bird

It's yet another sign that Time waits for no one.

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych died yesterday, at his farm in Massachusetts. He died in an accident, while working on his truck.

In 1976, when I was still in law school, The Bird was a sensation in Detroit. In a year when the country was still reeling in the aftermath of Watergate, and an oil crisis and mideast tensions were sending shock waves through the American economy, Fidrych made us feel young and carefree and happy. His mannerisms on the mound belied a gifted athlete---who, however goofy he might be, was deadly serious when it came to pitching.

He was 19-9 that year, and the American League rookie of the year. Two years later, he was washed up---the victim of an injury, and a team hungry for talent that rushed him back into action before he had healed.

Today, the mideast is still a bubbling cauldron; oil is still casting shock waves through the ecomony---and the country is in economic and political turnmoil.

But now, we're no longer young. And The Bird is now gone...another sign that time is relentless. And, sooner or later, it catches up to all of us.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.