All-Time Indians: Jim Piersall

Jim Piersall was a colorful player, famous for his antics (some benign and entertaining, others not) as much or more than his great defense and his above average offensive performance from 1953 through 1961. For the side of Jimmy that wasn’t entirely baseball related, he is the best source and he wrote his memoirs in a book called Fear Strikes Out, which later was made into a movie.

On the baseball side, he would eventually become an All-Star, but it would take some time for him to initially break into the league. Signed by the Red Sox at the age of 18, he didn’t break into the big leagues for good until 1953 when Ted Williams was recalled into military service for the Korean War. Once he broke through, he wouldn’t give up his spot as he played in 151 games in his first full season, batting .272 with defense that would eventually win him a Gold Glove. He finished 9th in the MVP race for Boston that year, went to the All-Star game in 1954, then won his first Gold Glove in 1958.

Despite winning gold in ’58, it was Piersall’s worst full season for Boston as he hit just .237 with no power and little patience. Now, we can look back and see that a high percentage contact hitter with a BABIP over .290 from 1952 through 1956 had some bad luck as his BABIP dropped to .259 in 1957, then .245 in 1958, but that type of analysis is only barely accepted now and hadn’t even been thought of in the middle of the 20th century. Instead, the Red Sox assumed his useful years had been used up by 28 years old and he was traded to Cleveland for the 34 year old Vic Wertz and second year player, Gary Geiger. For the Sox, Wertz would have one more good season (1960) and Geiger would take over center for Piersall, but neither would put up the kind of numbers that the former Boston center fielder would in Cleveland.

In his first season, Piersall would only begin to break out of his two year long slump as he hit .246/.303/.338. For the second time, Piersall would be asked to replace a center fielder as Larry Doby had been traded to Detroit for Tito Francona just before the 1959 season. A much more proficient bat than Piersall, Francona would actually play 61 games in center while Piersall played just 100 total, but in 1961 Francona moved to left to replace the exiting Minnie Minoso and Piersall would become a full time player in center. The increase in playing time was well deserved as he would have his second and final decent power season, slugging 18 home runs, one short of his personal record in 1957. He was also much more active on the bases than most seasons, stealing 18 to just five times caught. For his all around effort, Piersall received an MVP vote that year, finishing 28th (last) as Roger Maris took the AL award.

Having proven his worth, he would up his game another level in 1961. Batting a career best .322/.378/.442, Piersall scored 81 runs and knocked in 40 on 26 doubles, 7 triples and 6 home runs. While his production numbers may seem low now, this was the beginning of the Indians thirty year downturn. After Frank Lane’s trading had decimated the franchise, Piersall was one of few offensive producers left on the team along with Francona, Woodie Held and Vic Power. As the number two hitter on a poor offensive squad for most of the year, he simply didn’t have many production opportunities.

The definition of buy low, sell high, the Indians acquired a former All-Star and Gold Glove winner at the low point in his career, waited until he turned back into a Gold Glover (when he won the award in 1961 he was the second Indians player to win a Gold Glove following Power in both 1959 and 1960) and MVP candidate (13th in 1961 behind five Yankees including Maris, who won his second straight) before trading him away.

This time, Piersall was sent to Washington for Dick Donovan, Gene Green and Jim Mahoney. Unfortunately for the Indians rebuilding efforts, all three were a bit too old for long term team improvement and both Green and Mahoney were essentially players who had never done anything with their careers and never would. Green did have the allure of being both a catcher and center fielder and hit 18 home runs in 1961, but his Indians career would be unremarkable. Only Donovan, the oldest of the bunch at 34, would have multiple decent seasons as he finished out his career in Cleveland and even went to the All-Star game in 1962 and had a top five MVP finish.

If the Indians were ever unhappy with their haul, they had no one to complain to. Piersall would quickly diminish, hitting just .244/.301/.329 in 1962, his final season as a starter. After another two months of struggling in 1963, the Senators would trade Piersall to the Mets for Gil Hodges, who would never play another game, but would manage Washington through 1967. Only a few months later, however, Piersall was dropped from New York and signed with the Angels. Here, he would play out the rest of his career, signing one year deals each season until he retired after five games in 1967. A promising career cut short by mental instability, he played 17 seasons, but only just over 1,700 games and was really only a regular player from 1953 through 1962 with his best season coming in Cleveland in 1961.

Following his career, Piersall put things back together and joined the Rangers as a coach in 1975 before moving into the media world as a television broadcaster for the White Sox during the late 1970’s.