Page 14-Friday, August 14, 1981-The Michigan Daily
FIDR YCH TO REMAIN IN MINORS
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'Bird' may be grounded for good
DETROIT (AP) - At an age whcn to the Detroit Tigers this season, and he who've been effective down there and
most baseball players are just hitting may be finished with the team canhelpus."
their prime, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych permanently, says the club's general FIDRYCH, who has suffered through
appears to be reaching the end of the manager, Jim Campbell. a series of arm problems, has won only
line. In September, Detroit will call up 10 major league games since that
Fidrych, the curley-haired right- several promising players from their magical 19-9 rookie season and has
hander who took the baseball world by minor league teams, Fidrych, now pit- labored in the minors most of the time
storm when he won American League ching for the Tigers' AAA club in Evan- since then.
rookie-of-the-year honors in 1976, turns sville, Ind., of the American "He was no fluke," Campbell said.
27 today. Association, won't be one of them. "He was a good pitcher."
HARDLY AN age to be considered "I'm not going to bring him back this Fidrych's record is 6-2 at Evansville
washed up. year," Campbell said Wednesday. so far this season, but he has pitched
Yet Fidrych, who still talks to the hall "We'll probably bring up some pit- only 70 innings and surrendered 90 hits
and manicures the mound, won't return chers. If we do, they'll be pitchers for an earned run average of 5.66
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Baseball fans fleeing
according to report
BATTLE CREEK (AP)- The number of baseball fans turning out to watch
major league games remains below the pre-strike average and is dropping each
day, a newspaper studying the attendance figures said yesterday.
The Battle Creek Enquirer and News said the American and National Leauges
had a combined average attendance of 20,477 per game before the players' strike.
ON MONDAY, attendance at major league games averaged 26,323-boosted by
60,000-plus at Philadelphia to see Phillies first baseman Pete Rose set a National
League mark with his 3,631st career hit and free admission offered in San
Diego-but dropped to 17,777 Tuesday and 14,238 Wednesday, the newspaper said.
As a whole, Wednesday's attendance at major league games was down 30.4 per-
cent from the pre-strike games and down 44.7 percent from Monday, the Enquirer
said.
The newspaper used attendance figures recorded in the Sporting News, a weekly
sports publication, to compute the pre-strike game averages. Attendance figures
for the first three days of the resumed season came from The Associated Press box
scores.
IN THE AMERICAN League, the average attendance per game before the strike
was 20,327, the newspaper said. On Monday, the first day of resumed play, the
average attendance at American League games was down to 18,621, the newspaper
said. On Tuesday, the figure dropped to 13,659 and Wednesday it declined to 12,971.
That means the average crowd Wednesday was down 36.2 percent from the pre-
strike average and down 30.3 percent from Monday, the Enquirer said.
In the National League, the newspaper said a couple of unusual situations
skewed attendance figures for Monday.
THE PRE-STRIKE average attendance was 20,588, the newspaper said, while
Monday's average soared to 34,038.
That was due to the large crowd at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium to watch
Rose and the 52,000 people jammed the San Diego stadium because they could get
in free, the Enquirer said.
By Tuesday, the National League attendance had dropped to 21,896 and by Wed-
nesday the average was 15,717, the newspaper said.
That means the Wednesday crowd at National League games was down 23.7 per-
cent from pre-strike days and was down 53.8 percent from Monday.
CAMPBELL SAID that there are six
or seven players on the Tigers' minor
league clubs who can be protected on
the major league roster. Fidrych is on
the roster now, but he might not be in
the future, says the general manager.
After the season is over, if Detroit
decides to protect him, Fidrych could
stary with the Tigers' minor league
farm club in Evansville. But it isn't all
certain that Detroit will protect him.
"If we want to protect him, he'd have
to give us permission to keep him in
Triple A," said Campbell. Fidrych's op-
tion would be to select free agency,
making him available to other teams.
Earlier this year, no major league team
claimed Fidrych, resulting in his latest
trip down.
"IN ALL HONESTY, next year at
spring training if we didn't think he'd
be one of our nine pitchers, all the other
clubs would be set and he'd have a hard
time finding a job," said Campbell. "It
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Fidrych
. . .gone for good?
might be better for him to take his free
agency now."
Fidrych appears to have overcome
the soreness that has plagued his right
arm the past five years, Campbell said,
but that's not-enough.
"It appears sound," Campbell said,
"but he doesn't seem to have the
velocity and control he once had."
Still, the general manager held out a
ray of hope.
"Luis Tiant came back," he said.
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Hot Stuff AP Photo
Argentinian Jose-Luis Clerc's sizzling racquet has led to four tournament
victories in the last four weeks. His latest conquest was the U.S. Clay Open
Championship in Indianapolis. With the U.S. Open fast approaching, Clerc is
bulging in confidence that he will be an important factor in the tournament.
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