RIP Harry Kalas (1936-2009) and Mark ("The Bird") Fidrych (1954-2009)

Major League Baseball lost two more members of its family yesterday: long-time Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas and famous one-year wonder Mark ("The Bird") Fidrych.

I listened to Kalas broadcast a few games, and he was quite good. In particular, he was very articulate, which is something that few other broadcasters can claim.

Mark Fidrych is one of those legendary figures that I often heard about as a kid, but I never got to see him pitch during his magical 1976 season. Rob Neyer and Joe Posnanski wax poetic about him. One thing that was particularly notable about The Bird was how much fun he was obviously having on the pitching mound. There have been a number of baseball players who reached amazing heights and burned out, but Fidrych seems to have stayed more prominently in the hearts and minds of many fans.

I didn't blog about it, but of course course there was also last week's car accident that claimed the life of Angel rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart. The Angels seem to be terribly unlucky when it comes to such tragedies.