Wednesday, June 7, 2017

REMEMBERING JIMMY PIERSALL: ONE OF A KIND By Harvey Frommer

REMEMBERING JIMMY PIERSALL: ONE OF A KIND

By Harvey Frommer

The recent passing of the totally talented Jimmy Piersall made me go

to the Frommer archives and prepare the following excerpts from my book


Remembering Fenway Park.:

http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/


I spent a good deal of time interviewing him; Jimmy was honest,

unassuming and a terrific story teller. The passages bring his time and him

back to our consciousness. He was one of a kind.



JIMMY PIERSALL: My first day in the big leagues was

September 7, 1950. I was 20 years old. And we were playing

Washington and I was sitting on the bench. We’re down by four

runs and Steve O’Neil who had replaced Joe McCarthy as manager

said it’s time for me to pinch-hit. He called me “pierseraroll”— he

didn’t know what the hell my name was.


JOHNNY PESKY: A big left handed pitcher was going against

us. Piersall was going up for his first at bat. “Goddamn this guy’s

awful wild, God damn it, I’m afraid,” Jimmy said.

“If you’re afraid,” I told him, “you better get a lunch pail and

go home.”


JIMMY PIERSALL: I walked up. My hands were sweating. I

swung at the first pitch and the bat lands beyond the third base

dugout. And I’m standing there without a bat. The on deck circle

guy gives me another bat. The count goes to 3-2, and I hit a ball

between second and third for a hit.

==

Fighting at Fenway during the 1952 season seemed contagious.

Hyperactive Jimmy Piersall and Billy Martin got into a shouting match

before the Red Sox-Yankee game on the 24 th of May in the tunnel beneath

the stands. After the game they were at it again. As the story goes, Boston

pitcher Ellis Kinder accompanied Piersall and Bill Dickey accompanied

Martin as seconds. Martin sucker-punched,threw the first blow. They got

into a clinch. That ended the “fight.” Piersall supposedly changed his

bloody shirt in the clubhouse and was verbally on Martin from the bench

during the rest of the game.


JIMMY PIERSALL: It wasn’t a real fight, just pushing and

shoving. The only guy that got hurt was Bill Dickey. Heck, the way

the media played it up it was like a real brawl. You know, writers

would hang their mothers for the Pulitzer Prize.

Less than a month later on June 11 th in a game against the Browns,

Piersall led off the ninth inning against Satchel Paige announcing that was

going to bunt. He laid down one safely. Then the Sox outfielder began

imitating the ageless hurler’s moves yelling “Oink‚ oink‚ oink." An infield hit

moved Piersall to second base. Mimimcry and “oinks” continued.

Exasperated and unnerved, Paige walked the bases full. Another

walk to Billy Goodman scored a Red Sox run. Ted Lepcio singled, re-loading

the bases. Sammy White slammed a grand slammer. Then seemingly

influenced by Piersall’s behavior, the Red Sox catcher rounded third base,

crawled home and kissed the plate. It was a bizarre day at Fenway.

==

JIMMY PIERSALL: I was traded away but by 1953, I was

back with the Red Sox. At first, players on other teams would call

me “Gooney bird” and go “coo coo, coo coo.”

I finally said to myself, “I’m a pretty good player.” So if I hit

a home run or make a good play I’ll give them the finger.

On May 8 th , 1953 – Boston snapped a 13-game losing streak to the

Yankees . A Billy Goodman homer off Johnny Sain was the game winner in

the bottom of the 11 th inning. The next day the first-place Yankees nipped

Boston, 6–4. Mickey Mantle homered off Bill Werle. But the Mick’s bid for a

second home run was denied as Jimmy Piersall made a great catch in front

of the Sox bullpen in right-center field. There is no report of his giving the

finger.


DAVE HUTCHINSON: It was incredible how many times

Jimmy Piersall was able to do that. Defensively, for so many

years, he was something else.

Jimmy Piersall was truly something else.
--------------------------------------------

About the Author:   One of the most prolific and respected sports journalists and oral

historians in the United States, author of the autobiographies of legends Nolan Ryan,

Tony Dorsett, and Red Holzman, Dr. Harvey Frommer is a A professor in the MALS

program at Dartmouth College, Frommer was dubbed “Dartmouth’s Mr. Baseball” by

their alumni magazine.



His The Ultimate Yankee Book will be published fall 2017. Pre-order from

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Yankee- Book-Beginning- Today-

Essential/dp/1624144330

Sunday, June 4, 2017

SPORTS BOOKSHELF: Dinner with DiMaggio, Coach Wooden and Me. … and more By Harvey Frommer

SPORTS BOOKSHELF:

Dinner with DiMaggio, Coach Wooden and Me. … and mor
e


By Harvey Frommer



All kinds of new sports books. All kinds of interesting reading. What

follows if the pick of the pack. Enjoy


Dinner with DiMaggio by Richard Sandomir (Hatchette Books, $26.00,

350 pages) is a bit overblown and repetitive which more careful editing would

have fixed. There is also data on the Yankee Clipper that has appeared in print

before. That being said, if you are of a certain age, this tome will appeal to you.

Filled with gossip, opinion, stories, it worth spending a few hours with. A GOOD

READ



Coach Wooden and Me by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar focuses in on his half

century friendship with the fabled UCLA basketball coach. They first met in 1965

when Jabbar, then 18-year- old Lew Alcindor, showed up at UCLA. The rest, as

they say is the stuff of legend in basketball history as Jabbar led the way for the

Bruins to cop three NCAA national championships.

This is a book to read and savor and keep on your sports bookshelf. It truly

is an inside look at two legends and their special relationship. Wooden was coach,

mentor, friend, critic, father, all things to Jabbar who was a player and person who

helped shape the legacy of his great coach. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED



The Pride of the Yankees by Richard Sandomir (Hatchette Books, $27.00,

293 pages is the inside and sometimes never told story of the making of the classic

film about Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper and so much more. Through the years I have

gone back and forth as to which sports film ranks Number One.

I have always come back to The Pride of the Yankees. This terrific tome is

filled with anecdotes galore, new information, elegant writing that matches

Sandomir’s prodigious research. ONE THAT BELONGS HIGH ON YOUR

SPORTS BOOKSHELF


About the Author:   One of the most prolific and respected sports journalists

and oral historians in the United States, author of the autobiographies of legends

Nolan Ryan, Tony Dorsett, and Red Holzman, Dr. Harvey Frommer is an expert on the

New York Yankees and has arguably written more books, articles and reviews on the

New York Yankees than anyone.   In 2010, he was selected by the City of New York as

an historical consultant for the re-imagined old Yankee Stadium site, Heritage Field.

A professor for more than two decades in the MALS program at Dartmouth College,

Frommer was dubbed “Dartmouth’s Mr. Baseball” by their alumni magazine.

Pre-Order from Amazon

 Pre-Order HERE!