a movie I saw last weekend (Saturday, June 2nd of 2007) during an on-going rain storm while visiting my mom in St. Paul
Related Sites: Baseball Movie Baseball Library "Piersall broke in as a centerfielder but switched to shortstop at the major league level in 1952 after posting .346 and .339 averages for Boston's minor league affiliate at Birmingham. His season was curtailed by a nervous breakdown, recounted in Piersall's book, Fear Strikes Out, which was later made into a movie." Wikipedia "While he had a fairly good professional career as a center fielder, Piersall is better known for his well-publicized battle with bipolar disorder that became the subject of the movie Fear Strikes Out....
Receiving a three-day suspension for his antics, Piersall entered treatment three days later at the Westboro State Hospital in Massachusetts. Diagnosed with "nervous exhaustion," he would spend the next seven weeks in the facility and miss the remainder of the season. According to his autobiography, Piersall blamed much of his condition on his father, who placed excessive pressure on him to succeed as a baseball player as a small child."
