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Show Fidrych Blows Cool: 12 Runs Cross Plate The other day ace Detroit pitcher Mark Fidrych began a ball game here against the Chicago White Sox with a full stadium looking on. Fidrych hadn't given up a run in spring training to that time. . BUT ROOKIE umpiring and his temper did him in and he was the first to admit it in the dugout afterward. One blown call by the plate ump followed another and even manager Ralph Houk was kicking up sand. When another questionable call was made, Fidrych instead in-stead of speaking to the ball spoke to the ump. THEN HE blew his cool and before the inning was over, twelve runs had scored! . That's right, twelve. The stadium was deathly quiet. Mark didn't pitch long. Houk mercifully sent him to the showers. "I BLEW it," he admitted to an A. P. writer who visited him in the locker room. 'That was bush. I shouldn't have gotten mad like that." A day or two later Fidrych injured his ankle and so his spring pitching was beset with another temporary if. BUT FEW on the Tiger squad expect Fidrych to exhibit a sophomore jinx or complex this season. He is normally cool and concentrated concen-trated and he has good stuff. And only two of those twelve runs by Chicago were earned. In that marathon, which ended 18-15 White Sox, there were eight errors, making the best of it! |