His odd nickname reflected his basic, simple approach to the game. His real name was Richard William Tidrow, and he was the setup man for the Cubs (for Bruce Sutter) in the late 70s and early 80s. The Cubs got him from the Yankees for Ray Burris, one of the rare trades they never regretted.

Tidrow had two great years ('79 and '80), one terrible year ('81), and one average year ('82) for the Cubs, before he went to the White Sox in the Steve Trout trade, and pitched in the playoffs for the Sox that year. That turned out to be another good trade for the Cubs. Trout started for them the next five years (and won Game 2 of the '84 playoffs), and Tidrow was out of baseball after the '84 season.

Dirt is currently VP of player development for the San Francisco Giants.