 I was 18 years old. It was the year I graduated high school, and the talk of baseball was a rookie with the Detroit Tigers named Mark the Bird Fidrich. So I had to look it up to make sure I was right, and I was right. After two very brief relief appearances, they put him in the rotation, and he started exactly 11 games and was named the starting pitcher for the American League All-Star team. The exact same 11 starts that Paul Skeens had had. But here's the difference.