James Anthony Piersall was an American baseball center fielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball for five teams, from 1950 through 1967.
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24 Facts About Jimmy Piersall
2.
Jimmy Piersall was best known for his well-publicized battle with bipolar disorder that became the subject of a book and a film, Fear Strikes Out.
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3.
Jimmy Piersall led the Leavenworth High School basketball team to the 1947 New England championship, scoring 29 points in the final game.
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4.
Jimmy Piersall became a professional baseball player at age 18, having signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox in 1948.
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5.
Jimmy Piersall reached Major League Baseball in 1950, playing in six games as one of its youngest players.
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6.
On May 24,1952, just before a game against the New York Yankees, Jimmy Piersall engaged in a fistfight with Yankee infielder Billy Martin.
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7.
Jimmy Piersall spent the next seven weeks in the facility and missed the remainder of the season.
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9.
Jimmy Piersall once stepped up to bat wearing a Beatles wig and playing "air guitar" on his bat, led cheers for himself in the outfield during breaks in play, and "talked" to Babe Ruth behind the center field monuments at Yankee Stadium.
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10.
Jimmy Piersall was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1954 and 1956.
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11.
On December 2,1958, Jimmy Piersall was traded to the Cleveland Indians for first baseman Vic Wertz and outfielder Gary Geiger.
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12.
Jimmy Piersall was reunited with his former combatant Billy Martin, who had been acquired by the team.
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13.
Jimmy Piersall's subsequent meeting with American League president Joe Cronin and the departure of manager Joe Gordon seemed to settle Piersall down for the remainder of the season.
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14.
Jimmy Piersall ran around the bases in the correct order but facing backwards as he made the circuit.
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15.
Jimmy Piersall eventually disowned the film because of what he saw as its distortion of the facts, including over-blaming his father for his problems.
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16.
Many years later, Jimmy Piersall authored The Truth Hurts, in which he details his ouster from the Chicago White Sox organization.
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17.
Jimmy Piersall had broadcasting jobs with the Texas Rangers beginning in 1974 and with the Chicago White Sox from 1977 to 1981, when he was teamed with Harry Caray.
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18.
Jimmy Piersall ultimately was fired after excessive on-air criticism of team management.
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19.
Jimmy Piersall, who wintered in Arizona, was invited to a White House event honoring the 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox on March 2,2005.
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20.
Jimmy Piersall was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2001.
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21.
Jimmy Piersall briefly appeared as himself on The Lucy Show with Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon.
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22.
The plot has Lucy, Mr Mooney and Lucy's son, Jerry meeting Jimmy Piersall who is making a public appearance at Marineland on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
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23.
Jimmy Piersall resided in Wheaton, Illinois until his death, with his third wife Jan, whom he married in 1982.
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24.
Jimmy Piersall died in Wheaton, Illinois on June 3,2017, at the age of 87.
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