Mark Fidrych was a big-league pitcher who had one good year (19-9, 2.34 ERA, Rookie of the Year) for the Detroit Tigers in 1976.
He was famous for his goofy appearance (he looked a bit like Andy Samberg wearing a Harpo wig) and eccentric on-field antics - most notably talking to the ball. He was called "The Bird" due to his striking resemblance to a certain Sesame Street character.
He was also famous for his incredible bad luck. A cartilage tear in his knee attributed to "fooling around in the outfield" (according to Wikipedia) killed his career in 1977.
The bad luck continues - today he was found dead under a dump truck at his home in Massachusetts.
In honor of Fidrych, I give you two additional links - his all-too brief career stats according to Baseball-Reference.com, and a 1985 interview with "The Bird" on something called Once A Star.