loved playing the game. He would talk to the ball and carefully groom the mound before every inning. He caught the baseball world by storm. Fidrych appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice and was the first athlete ever to appear on the cover of "Rolling Stone" Magazine. In his first 13 starts, Fidrych worked an unbelievable 120 1/3 innings. If you do the math, thats over nine innings per start. How is that possible? Well three times over that span Houk let him go 11 innings. On June the 28th, he was featured in a Monday Night baseball national telecast, Fidrych beat the Yankees 5-1 in just an hour and 51 minutes. Fidrych would go on to start the All-Star game for the American League in his 12th Major League start. He would go on to finish the season at (19-9) for Detroit with a 2.34 ERA. But it was some of his other numbers that were truly astounding. Fidrych made 29 starts from mid-May till the end of the season. He pitched 24 complete games including four shutouts and pitched 250 1/3 innings. Pitchers today are proud just to hit 200 innings. On May 31st, he pitched a game that lasted one hour and 48 minutes. Then in his next start, he bested that taking just one hour and 46 minutes. Another unusual thing about Fidrych was he had his own personal catcher. He was 24- year-old Bruce Kimm, a rookie who played his first game with the Tigers just two weeks before Fidrych made his first start. They worked so well together in that first start Houk kept them as a battery all season. I dont know if that would ever happen today. As great as he was for Detroit that season, the Tigers still finished up the track at 74-87. Somehow, though he was voted Rookie of the Year, he didnt win the Cy Young too. That honour went to the Orioles Jim Palmer. But Fidrychs success on the diamond would be short lived. He injured his knee in the spring of 1977, and later in that season damaged his shoulder. Times being what they were, and medical advances in the treatment of arm injuries were still in their infancy, it wasnt discovered till 1985 that the "Bird" had a damaged rotator cuff. He finished his career with a (29-19) record and 3.10 ERA and 34 complete games in just 58 starts. This is the really incredible number. When Roger Clemens, one of the All-time greats pitched for the Blue Jays in 1997 and 1998, attendance barely increased on days he was on the mound at Rogers Centre. Yet in 1976, a year in which the Tigers drew 1,467,020 fans, more than half of that number showed up for the 18 games Fidrych pitched in. That is incredible. So if you were one of the few who were at Exhibition Stadium on Oct. 1, 1980 consider yourself lucky. You saw the final appearance of one of the most unique talents and colourful characters the baseball world has ever seen. Mark Jackson Knicks Jersey . Hamels threw seven sharp innings to earn his 100th career victory, Domonic Brown had a career-best five RBIs and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 12-1 on Saturday night to end a four-game losing streak. Willis Reed Knicks Jersey . 1. AMIR JOHNSON: Nice to see him back in the lineup Tuesday night in Washington DC. Played with great energy and purpose. Its amazing when a guy gets those few precious days to recover what it does to the bounce in their step and overall game/confidence. Orange Kevin Knox Kids Jersey - Cheap Kevin Knox Knicks Jersey Authentic For Sale . Last July, F1 teams held in-season testing sessions at Silverstone to assess new tires provided by Pirelli after several blowouts on the same circuit at the British Grand Prix in June prompted a furious response from drivers and even a boycott threat the following week.LOS ANGELES -- Justin Turner drove in two runs and scored another pair, helping rally the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-6 win over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night that snapped a three-game skid. The Dodgers have won six of their last seven against the Padres, and improved to 8-3 against their NL West rival this season. They avoided their first four-game losing streak. Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer with two outs in the seventh, extending the Dodgers lead to 8-4. Former Padre Kevin Correia (2-0) allowed four runs and eight hits over five innings in his Dodger Stadium debut. The right-hander struck out six and walked one while making his second start since being acquired from Minnesota on Aug. 9. He replaced Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is on the disabled list. Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 35th save, although his throwing error on a bunt single led to a run. Turners RBI double to deep centre field in the fourth inning scored Matt Kemp, who doubled leading off, and tied the game 3-all. A.J. Ellis sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers their first lead of the game, 4-3. Correia grounded into a fielders choice to the catcher, and Turner scored on a throwing error by first baseman Jake Goebbert to make it 5-3. Goebberts throw bounced and got past Yangervis Solarte, who became entangled with Turner on the bag. When Solarte chased after the errant throw, Turner ran toward the plate with his red hair flying and scored. Los Angeles cut the lead to 3-2 in the second onn Turners first RBI double and Erisbel Arruebarrenas RBI single. Walt Frazier Knicks Jersey. The Padres led 3-0 in the first on Jedd Gyorkos three-run homer. Ian Kennedy (9-11) gave up six runs -- five earned -- and seven hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked two. Correia (1-0, 1.50 ERA), who will be making his second start since being acquired from Minnesota on Aug. 9. TRAINERS ROOM: Padres: Pitcher Andrew Cashner (right shoulder soreness) will be reinstated from the disabled list this weekend and return to the rotation. The right-hander is 2-6 with a 2.36 ERA in 12 starts. Dodgers: Infielder Juan Uribe, on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, is feeling better and will work indoors for a couple of days. Pitcher Josh Beckett, on the DL with a torn labrum, will let his muscle heal before he starts a throwing program to see if can handle it. Manager Don Mattingly says the question is whether or not theres enough time remaining for Beckett to get back up to speed before the season ends. Ryu is throwing, but has not yet been cleared to resume running while he deals with a right hip strain. ON DECK: Padres: Left-hander Eric Stults (5-13, 4.64 ERA) takes the mound. He has limited the opposition to a .222 batting average over his last 10 starts since June 17 at Seattle. Dodgers: Roberto Hernandez (7-8, 3.72 ERA) has faced the Padres once in his career on May 12, 2013, when he was with Tampa Bay. He is 3-5 in 12 career starts against the NL West. ' ' '