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Jimmy Piersall (1929–2017)

Autor(a) de Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story

2 Works 79 Membros 1 Review

About the Author

James Anthony Piersall was born in Waterbury, Connecticut on November 14, 1929. After graduating from high school, he was signed by the Red Sox organization in 1948. During three seasons in the minors, he was often agitated and feared he would fail. During his rookie season in 1952, he fought with mostrar mais or simply outraged his teammates, opposing players, and umpires. When his disruptive behavior continued after he was demoted to the minors in June 1952, he was persuaded by the Red Sox and his wife to undergo psychiatric treatment. He was in a mental hospital for six weeks, where he underwent shock treatment and counseling for a nervous breakdown. He was diagnosed with manic depression, which is now called bipolar disorder. Early in 1955, he collaborated with Al Hirshberg on a two-part article for The Saturday Evening Post entitled They Called Me Crazy - And I Was!, which was eventually expanded into the memoir Fear Strikes Out. The book was the basis for the movie Fear Strikes Out starring Anthony Perkins. Piersall played in the major leagues for 17 seasons. He had a .272 career batting average with 104 home runs. He was an All-Star in 1954 and 1956 and a Gold Glove Award winner in 1958 and 1961. After his baseball career was over, he became a Chicago White Sox broadcaster and later a minor league outfield instructor with the Chicago Cubs' organization. He wrote a second memoir with Richard Whittingham entitled The Truth Hurts, which was published in 1985. He died on June 3, 2017 at the age of 87. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos

Includes the name: Jim Piersall

Obras de Jimmy Piersall

The Truth Hurts (1985) 21 cópias

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Resenhas

In this book Jim relates the story of his life including his breakdown in 1952 and recovery. The back of the book says that the breakdown was ‘so complete that seven months virtually have vanished from his memory’. The actual cause of his memory loss was the electroshock treatments he received in the hospital.

Piersall was born in Waterbury, CT. You could say he was born a Red Sox fan, he grew up loving the team and wanting to play for them. He got his wish and then it all seemingly washed down the drain. However, not only did he come back to play for the Red Sox the year after his breakdown, he played 17 seasons of pro ball and has been healthy since.

The covers his childhood, his relationship with his parents, his father primarily, his mother’s history of mental illness, although he doesn’t share her diagnosis he relates she was in and out of Norwich State Hospital. Most importantly, he reveals the twisted way he was thinking, I don’t mean twisted in a depraved way, I mean in the way his mental illness progressed. For example, he read an article in The Sporting News that quoted Lou Boudreau, manager of the Red Sox saying they were planning on converting him to shortstop. He had never played shortstop, he was an outfielder. Instead of being relieved that the Red Sox wanted him, he convinced himself that they didn’t and were trying to make him quit.

His recovery is also covered, including reading about his behaviour in the field and off the field. Which cause his wife distress, his manager didn’t know how to handle him and most of his teammates hated him.

The book ends with the end of the 1953 season, he was well on his way to a long and productive baseball career. The book I read was published in 1999 and contains an afterward by Jim Piersall where he summarizes his life since then, what he is doing now and how he feels about the movie “Fear Strikes Out”.

A very interesting account, easy to read, detailed but not dragging.
… (mais)
½
 
Marcado
BellaFoxx | Jul 18, 2015 |

Prêmios

Estatísticas

Obras
2
Membros
79
Popularidade
#226,897
Avaliação
3.9
Resenhas
1
ISBNs
8

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