In his eulogy at Mark Fidrych's funeral services on Friday former Tiger slugger Willie Horton said there should be a special place in baseball's Hall of Fame for guys like The Bird, players who had such a huge and positive impact on the game.
        I can assure you Horton spoke from the heart.
        Beginning in spring training of 1976, the two formed a unique bond.
        Horton, the muscular 32-year-old black veteran from the streets of Detroit was one of the first in the Tigers' clubhouse to befriend the skinny 21-year-old rookie from rural Massachusetts.
        "I could tell he was everyday people," Horton explained at the time. "He wasn't trying to prove nothing to nobody. He was just being himself."
        When Jack Hand, the Tigers' clubhouse attendant decided, shortly after the season began, that he could no longer afford to provide soda pop free of charge to the players, Horton and Fidrych decided to go into the soft drink business themselves.
        Horton brought a cooler from home and the two players filled it with refreshments.
        "The Boomer and The Bird -- The B-and-B Pop Store," Horton called it.
        Payment was on the honor system. "If they want to give a donation they can," Horton explained.
        In June, when Horton, the enforcer, went on the disabled list with inflamed ligaments in his foot,  he left Fidrych in charge of the store. And the players, accustomed to free pop, stopped paying.
        When Horton returned a couple weeks later, he found Fidrych more frenzied than usual.
        "They robbed us blind!" The Bird shrieked. "They wiped us out! They beat the (bleep) out of me and robbed us blind!"
        Horton laughed and wrapped one of his massive arms around Fidrych's neck.
        "I guess we're just going to have to restock the store," he said.