Download Ebook Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story
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Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story
Download Ebook Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story
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Amazon.com Review
Once again, the Bison Books imprint of the University of Nebraska Press has reached into baseball's past and returned with a Hall of Fame read. Fear Strikes Out is one of the game's most dramatic autobiographies. It is also one of the most important. When first published in 1955, it ventured into territory traditionally considered out of play for a sports story. "I must have been quite a card when I first broke into baseball's big league as a Boston Red Sox rookie in 1952," Piersall opens rather cheerily. He was a baseball clown, and the fans loved his offbeat shenanigans. One paragraph later, he tosses a huge, hanging curve. "Almost everybody...thought I was a riot. My wife knew I was sick, yet she was helpless to stop my mad rush toward a mental collapse." In time, Piersall would become one of the silkiest centerfielders of the '50s--no mean feat given his contemporaries Mantle and Mays. A new afterword by Piersall catches us up to his later years (and stunts) in baseball and his post-career as a broadcaster. Fear is actually a prologue to that. It's a courageous story. Piersall's demons had him by the throat and nearly choked him. The breakdown he suffered early in his rookie years was so complete and so terrifying that his mind blanked out the next seven months before his own healing allowed for a painful reconstruction. Given that Fear was written in an era before biographic confessional and the public washing of an athlete's unclean flannels, Piersall's honesty and detail about mental illness, hospitalization, psychiatric therapy, and the struggle back to sanity are extraordinary. This is a truly marvelous book--better than the movie starring Anthony Perkins that was made from it--and, like the lead-off hitter Piersall was, it's earned its spot at the top of the order of any serious collection of baseball biographies. --Jeff Silverman
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Review
"Jim Piersall, 22 year old outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, had a mental breakdown in 1952—one so complete that seven months virtually have vanished from his memory. . . . This account of his experiences is a frank and fascinating one."—Chicago Sunday Tribune (Chicago Sunday Tribune)"The story of a man who became mentally ‘sick,’ and how, through competent medical care, the help of a sympathetic and most understanding wife, the patience and encouragement of manager, teammates and fans, and above all his own splendid courage, he made a complete recovery and resumed his baseball career. . . . How he overcame his fears is a dramatic, heart-warming story. It is most refreshing to read how the Boston Red Sox, from manager down, backed up Jim in his fight for rehabilitation, and helped him regain the confidence that brought him back."—Library Journal (Library Journal)
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Product details
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Bison Books (February 1, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0803287615
ISBN-13: 978-0803287617
Product Dimensions:
5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.3 out of 5 stars
47 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#319,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Written at a very young age, after he'd only been an established major-league baseball player for three full seasons, "Fear Strikes Out" chronicles Jim Piersall's struggles with mental illness, and the ultimate breakdown that led to his being hospitalized in a mental institution during the 1952 season. The book came out in 1955, and must have been fairly ground-breaking in its day. While such a book written today would include a lot more specific detail about diagnosis and treatment (at the time, Piersall was only said to have had "nervous exhaustion"), Piersall leads the reader step-by-step through his condition. Several passages in the book are written in first-person narrative, as the author illustrates Piersall's uncontrolled racing thoughts. Piersall then blacks out, losing several months of his life in 1952, and awakening in the "violent ward" of a State mental hospital after having undergone electro-shock therapy (this book pre-dates "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"). It's only after that that Piersall describes, in slow-motion and painful detail, the symptoms and behavior that prematurely ended his 1952 baseball season and which led to his waking up in the violent ward.Piersall holds back few of his thought processes in the months and years leading up to his breakdown. He describes his mother's history of mental illness, and father's demanding personality (which, according to Piersall, was then over-played as a plot point for the 1957 movie adaptation).The book is dated, in a few senses. Piersall is told that that he can simply wish, or think away, his mental illness; from a modern perspective, I assume this would now be regarded as incorrect or at least incomplete advice. Also, the book is written basically as one single chapter, with few breaks between sections; modern sports autobiographies no longer tend to look like this (although it does make the book harder to put down!).Happily, Jim Piersall is still alive today. He ended up playing in the big leagues for parts of 16 seasons, and slugged over 100 career home runs, with his 100th most memorably coming as a member of the New York Mets, which he celebrated by running the bases backward. He was then famously paired with Harry Caray as a Chicago White Sox broadcaster in the late 1970s, and later spent many years as an instructor and scout with the Chicago Cubs. While many passages in the book are painful to read, in terms of their honesty and level of detail, the incidents that are portrayed are now nearly 65 years old, and Piersall has wound up with what appears to be a happy ending.
This book was published in 1955. For the time it was published it was remarkable how candid Piersall was about his illness. Back then this type of illness was usually only talked about in hushed tones. For just writing this book candidly Piersall should be highly commended. I'm sure this went a long way for people to understand mental illness better. In this book Piersall goes though his young life to his days of treatment with mental illness. He had a somewhat harsh upbringing. His mother had mental illness and was treated successfully for it. His father could be very harsh at times but was supportive of Piersall's athletic pursuits. Piersall was a fine athlete in high school. Excelling in basketball as well as baseball. He probably could have excelled in football too but his dad forbade him to play it. Piersall quickly went through the Red Sox farm system and made the team in 1952. But his mental illness overtook him during that season and was eventually taken to a mental facility for treatment. He was treated successfully there and went on to a good MLB career. No mention though as to what kind of treatments he had. That would have been interesting to read about and compare to todays treatments. He also has written a small portion at the end in 1999. But not much was written about how he has progressed since his time as a player. Although you can read in other places as to some things that went on his life after his playing days. This is a good book but there is so much more that could have been written and followed up on. He is still alive (Though I do not know his overall health condition) so maybe he can relate more details sometime soon to fill in some of the blanks left in this book.
"Fear Strikes Out" tells the tale of Jimmy Piersall, who played for the Boston Red Sox in the early to late 1950s. He and Willy Mays of the Giants were the best defensive center fielders in pro baseball then and perhaps ever. "FSO" is more concerned with Jimmy's nervous breakdown in 1952 and his subsequent recovery. The real story should be his patient wife, without whom Piersall would have been at sea. The Catholic Church has canonized people for less! "FSO" skims along the edges of Jimmy's problems but to its' credit does not sweep them under a rug. The problems may be sanitized but not trivialized. In my opinion, the true meat of the book is its' 1950s American League backdrop, which I'm just barely old enough to remember. Red Sox fans should enjoy reading about Ted Lepcio, Lou Boudreau, Ellis Kinder, Joe Cronin and Billy Goodman. "FSO" has a limited scope and appeal. The 1950s sportsworld was lilly white and not given to tell all, dirt digging locker room scoops and the book reflects that era. Jimmy gets a free pass on some (not all) of his antics. Readers who accept those constraints should find "FSO" enjoyable and worthwhile. Anyone with a dad or uncle, etc who is a hardcore Red Sox fan has a great Christmas present to click unto.
Bought this book after Jim Piersall passed away. I heard the announcers mention his life. Next thing you know I bought the book and just loved it! It brought back some great baseball memories and facts. LOVED LOVED the book...
I remember reading this book while in grade school. Brought back lots of memories for me. Thank You.
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