Former major leaguer Jim Piersall, who bared his soul about his struggles with mental illness in his book "Fear Strikes Out," has died. He was 87. Piersall died Saturday at a care facility in Wheaton, Illinois, after a monthslong illness, according to the Boston Red Sox, for whom Piersall played for seven of his 17 seasons in the majors.
Piersall was "famous" for running the bases backwards after he hit his 100th career homerun. Also, one of his incidents involved charging the mound and throwing his batting helmut at pitcher, Jim Bunning in the early '60s. Bunning just died last week.
Piersall, depsite all the attention to his emotional issues, was a decent ballplayer.
