Looking back on the life of Jimmy Piersall
Jimmy Piersall, a colorful major-league outfielder for 17 seasons before pairing with Harry Caray on Chicago White Sox broadcasts from 1977-81 and later joining the Chicago Cubs as a roving outfield instructor, died Saturday at a Wheaton care facility.
Piersall was 87.
Breaking in as a center fielder with Boston in 1950, the Waterbury, Conn., native played for the Red Sox until 1958 and also played for the Indians (1959-61), Senators (1962-63), Mets ('63) and Angels (1963-67).
Piersall posted a career .272/.332/.386 hitting line with 104 home runs and 591 RBI in 1,734 games.
A two-time all-star, Piersall also won Gold Gloves in 1958 and '61.
Piersall and Hall of Famer Ted Williams were teammates with the Red Sox for nine seasons.
"Ted Williams told me (Piersall) was the greatest center fielder he ever saw," White Sox broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson told reporters on Sunday.
Harrelson played for the Red Sox from 1967-69.
"Ted said (Piersall) was never afraid of a wall, and back in those days they didn't have many padded walls," Harrelson said. "Most of them were concrete. If you hit them, you were going to get hurt. But Ted said he never backed away from a wall."
Piersall never seemed to back away from anything during his long career in baseball, which included a stint as an outspoken analyst with WSCR 670-AM.
During his playing days, he ran the bases backward after hitting his 100th career home run and he once wore a Beatles wig in the batter's box.
Diagnosed with a bipolar disorder during his playing career, Piersall was admitted to the Westborough State Hospital in 1952 following a series of incidents on and off the field.
"I got physically and mentally tired," Piersall told the Boston Globe in 2006.
Piersall wrote an autobiography, "Fear Strikes Out," which detailed his mental struggles and the negative effects of an overbearing father.
The book was later adapted into a movie.
When he was broadcasting White Sox games, Piersall developed a critical style, and the controversy continued.
In 1980, former Daily Herald beat writer Rob Gallas wrote a story about Piersall being dismissed as a part-time coach for the Sox.
Piersall confronted Gallas in the White Sox's clubhouse and was choking the reported before bullpen coach Art Kusnyer intervened and broke up the scuffle.
Piersall was the hired by the Cubs as a minor-league outfield coach in 1986.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon remembers meeting Piersall.
"I think it was Fitch Park in Mesa, Arizona," Maddon said. "Very alive, lively and outspoken and eager in his instruction. I'd watch him. He was (working) with the Cubs at the time. I didn't get to know him. I just watched and observed him right there.
"But before that, 'Fear Strikes Out,' the movie, when I was a kid growing up I remember watching that, the impression it made on me. I guess he hid behind the monuments in Yankee Stadium. My dad would always tell me about that. So my dad always talked about what a great player he was, how entertaining he was.
"My only exchange with him was watching him coach and having a real boisterous time at Fitch Park, which I thought was kind of cool. I heard he was an outstanding outfielder and a great baserunner, and he was a very good instructor at both."
• Bruce Miles and the Associated Press contributed to this report.