October 1st of 1980 wasnt a particularly special day in Blue Jays history. It was the final home game of the regular season at old Exhibition Stadium. The Jays were days away from wrapping up a 67-95 season. On this day, there were but 12,426 fans in the stands to watch the culmination of a fifth straight losing season. The fans on hand probably didnt even realize they were witnessing something special, something unique. Not the final score. Detroit out slugged the Blue Jays 11-7. So what was it about this game? Well it was the final start of the incredible, yet semi tragic career of Mark Fidrych. On this day the man-child they called the "Bird" went five innings giving up five runs, four of those earned. The Jays effectively ended his day by scoring four runs in the fifth. Ernie Whitt keying the rally with a three run homer, the last "Round Tripper" Fidrych would ever surrender. Fidrych gutted it out through that fifth inning and managed to get the win, to finish his season at (2-3). The starter for the Blue Jays that day was a 23-year-old Dave Stieb. He got torched for seven hits and six earned runs in just 2 1/3 innings and took the loss to fall to (12-15). Greatness was yet to come for Stieb who was in just his second season in the Majors, his first full campaign. For Fidrych, we were just left with memories and the lingering question of how great he might have been. Flash back to May 15th of 1976. The Tigers were home to Cleveland. Their scheduled starter that day had the flu. The manager, Ralph Houk "the Major" of Yankees fame, handed the ball to a 21-year-old long lanky right hander, who reminded a minor league coach of his at Lakeland of the legendary Sesame Street character "Big Bird". All Fidrych did was pitch a complete game two-hitter as he out-dueled Clevelands Pat Dobson in a 2-1 Tigers victory. There were 14,583 people on hand for the game. Remember that number. There were some great Blue Jays and Canadian baseball connections in that game. Rusty Staub was in right field for Detroit. Alan Ashby, a Blue Jay a year later was catching for Cleveland and the two DHs - the Tigers Willie Horton and the Indians Rico Carty - played with the Jays as well. For Fidrych this was only the beginning of one of most magical seasons in baseball history. After losing his next start at Fenway in yet another complete game, 2-0 to the great Luis Tiant, Fidrych would go on to reel off seven straight victories He was more than just a pitcher though, he was a fun loving unassuming kid who just 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. Kyzir White Jersey . A veteran of 16 NHL seasons, Prospals career was highlighted by him ranking fourth in points scored, third in assists and sixth in games played among all Czech Republic born players in NHL history. Mike Pouncey Chargers Jersey . Pospisil, the seventh seed, saved match points in each of the last two sets before falling to the unseeded Dutchman. "I wasnt very happy with the way I was playing,"said Pospisil. http://www.chargersfansofficial.com/kyzir-white-jersey/ . Dalton completed his only pass and led the Bengals to a touchdown in his only drive -- one that took four minutes to finish -- and the Cincinnati Bengals ended the preseason with a 27-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. Caleb Sturgis Chargers Jersey . The club announced Friday that Mauro Biello will be kept on as an assistant to coach Jesse Marsch when the Impact join the MLS in 2012. Derwin James Chargers Jersey . -- Stanley Johnson scored all 18 of his points in the second half, T.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, After seeing the hit from Alex Killorn on Torontos Paul Ranger on Wednesday, do you think there was any way for the official to call it differently? Was tossing out Killorn simply based on seeing Ranger laid out on his back, or was there enough to see from the hit to justify getting him out of the game? Also, Tampas fifth goal was a bit controversial - Tyler Johnson interfered with Tim Gleason at the Leafs blue line, but no penalty was called. Johnson then notched the goal, leaving the Leafs ticked off. Maybe a bit of a sell job by Gleason that the officials saw? Paul Grey,Peterborough, ON Paul: The rule book contains many references where the referee is directed to impose a major and game misconduct for a foul resulting in injury. This direction and expected standard applies to almost every rule found in the physical foul category with the exception of rule 48 - illegal check to the head where there is no provision for a major penalty or game misconduct. (The referees did not want their authority to generally exceed a minor penalty for an infraction of rule 48 however a match penalty can also be assessed). A major penalty for boarding (41.3) can be assessed at the discretion of the referee based on the degree of violence of the impact with the boards, to a player guilty of boarding an opponent. Paul Ranger definitely impacted the boards with a high degree of violence and worthy of a major penalty following the poor decision Alex Killorn made to complete his intended hit with some muscle and hands finishing high. When a major is imposed under the boarding rule for a foul resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent a game misconduct must be assessed as well. Based upon the degree of impact with the boards and the resulting injury to Paul Ranger the referees had no alternative but to impose a major and game misconduct to Killorn. The correct call was made. There is a much bigger picture here that needs to be rectified. I saw this as an avoidable and needless injury for a variety of reasons as Ranger and Killorn pursued a loose puck below the goal line. First there was only 7.1 seconds remaining in the period when the hit on Ranger was made and puck possession (or in the case of Ranger, puck and bodily protection) should have been their primary focus. Paul Ranger had the lead lane and slowed with a glide motion to shoulder-check the time remaining and to notice the close proximity and attack angle of Killorns fore-check. There were definitely safer options available to Paul Ranger that he did not utilize.dddddddddddd Some of those options became unavailable to him as the puck movement slowed in the corner below the goal line and Ranger overshot the puck location while looking back over his shoulder (Some possible options include: shouldering up and engage Killorn; keep the feet moving and square up to the end boards to take the hit from the side while protecting the puck or advancing it around the wall behind the net). Paul Ranger ultimately made a very dangerous decision and was rendered vulnerable by making a slight shoulder fake right and then a reverse turn to expose his back to Killorn and his face square to the boards. Alex Killorn, on the other hand, did not make a good decision to alter his intended hit with reduced velocity or elevation of hands and stick once Ranger exposed his back and was placed in a vulnerable position. Stick on ice might have been an indicator that puck possession mattered more than making a big hit. Alex Killorn did what practically every player does in todays game; which is to finish a check hard and with speed. There appears to be little regard for the consequences of these hits. Im not trying to single Alex out just that much more needs to be done to encourage better decisions by a player that sets himself up for a hit and those that finish the hit. That will take a concerted effort by the players themselves through NHLPA involvement to stop this parade to the medical room. There is only so much the Player Safety Committee can do. The contact Tyler Johnson initiated on Tim Gleason with the Lightning attacking the Leafs blue line on the power play was clearly an interference violation and deserving of a penalty. The attacking player must give way to the defenceman that is backing up on this play. Tim Gleason was focused on Michael Kostka carrying the puck through the middle of the neutral zone. Tyler Johnson approached Gleason from the side and would have made visual contact with the big Leafs defenceman. At that point Johnson must stop or alter his forward progress to avoid contact with Gleason; whether incidental or otherwise. While the official might have thought Gleason was trying to sell the call, the fact remains that he was interfered with by Johnson and effectively taken out of the play. The takeout of Gleason allowed clean entry into the Leafs zone by Tampa and should not be ruled a collision. To add insult to injury for the Leafs, Tyler Johnson scored the eventual goal with Gleason in chase after picking himself up off the ice in the neutral zone. Interference of this nature on a defenceman backing up, especially when a team is killing a penalty, should be called 10 out of 10 times! 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