Not so much the delivery, which was nothing unusual, but the act which came with him: talking to the ball, obsessive grooming of the mound, general goofiness.

Used to talk to the ball and do other bizarre things while on the mound. There were many colorful eccentrics in baseball in the 70's, like this guy, Bill Lee, Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky, etc.Didn't throw very hard or rack up a lot of strikeouts. Nicknamed "Big Bird" after the Sesame Street character, who he slightly resembled. One of the ultimate one year wonders of baseball, a 19 game winner as a rookie with Detroit, won Rookie of the Year in 1976. Injuries led to him only winning 10 more games in his brief career, but one of the great flash in the pans of baseball.