#159 Jim Piersall

Jim Piersall  Cleveland Indians

Career: Piersall was a multi-talented player whose eccentricities overshadowed his ball skills. He played for 17 seasons, all but 40 games in the American League with the Red Sox, Senators, Angels and Indians. He was one third of a talented Red Sox outfield in the 50's playing between Ted Williams and Jackie Jensen. For his career he had a .272 average with some power and speed. He several times ranked among the best defensive outfielders when you look at the advanced stats. He won a couple of Gold Gloves and was twice an All Star.

In 1960: His home run total (18) and RBI total (66) were both the second best of his career. He hit .282 and stole 18 bases which was his best in each category.

WikiFacts: "Jimmy Piersall was a gifted, high-visibility player who had a long career in the major leagues; a minor star who intrigued and enchanted both fans baseball people with his natural, all-around athleticism, and sometimes erratic behavior. He was good hitter and excellent fielder with a strong arm and above-average speed; he was one of the few American athletes whose battle with mental health issues was well documented in the 1950s. With that, he eventually figured out that those past issues would allow him the freedom to sometimes act eccentric and zany -- which further endeared him to fans." -Piersall's BR Bullpen bio

"Fear Strikes Out is the title of the autobiography of major league outfielder Jim Piersall, written in collaboration with Al Hirshberg and originally published in 1955. The book broke taboos by openly speaking of Piersall's bout with mental illness and depression and became a best-seller. A film of the book was released in 1957 and stars Anthony Perkins and Karl Malden." -Wikipedia

"Tony Perkins is one of the worst actors in the history of American film." -Me

The Card: This off-center copy suits me just fine. Nice color combo, Piersall is wearing his cap (too many capless guys in this set) and he's at Yankee Municipal Stadium. The dark gray cardboard detracts from the back though. It makes the make pretty hard to read. Too bad Topps couldn't have used the cream color backs through the entire set. But that wouldn't have been very Topps-like. Inconsistency is their most consistent attribute in this era's offerings.