The author of the inspirational memoir Fear Strikes Out — which openly chronicled Piersall’s battle with mental illness — died Saturday at the age of 87.
The book was much better than the movie. According to the excellent obituary by Richard Goldstein in The New York Times,
“I hated the movie,” Piersall wrote in his 1985 memoir. [Anthony] Perkins, he said, gave a fine performance but looked foolish trying to play baseball. He maintained that the movie included events that had never happened, and that he had never blamed his father for his breakdown.
That memoir — The Truth Hurts — was typical Piersall: unabashed, flamboyant, perhaps a bit harsh.
It’s a toss-up between Perkins and William Bendix, who played the title tole in the 1946 biopic, The Babe Ruth Story. Legend has it that Ruth hated that portrayal as well.
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