Authors: Jim Piersall,Hirshberg

Fear Strikes Out (23 page)

BOOK: Fear Strikes Out

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After I stopped playing, I thought that if I could diversify myself I could make a living in many different ways. I’m glad I can do different jobs, and I’ve had many times when I’ve had to go and sell myself to an employer and convince them I could do the job. I worked in the front office for the California Angels for a couple of years. Then I ran a football team for about three or four years. I had learned how to sell when I was in Boston and had a food brokerage there. Then I worked for Charley Finley in Oakland for a year. It was one of the worst times of my life; check out the other book I wrote,
The Truth Hurts
. It still does. But it was a great experience, because the man was very clever, and I learned an awful lot about people. When I left there I managed for one summer, and then I got with my old friend Billy Martin in Arlington, Texas, where I worked in the front office selling and coached the Ranger outfielders.

After I left Texas, I auditioned to do the color commentary with Harry Caray for about two or three games, and I was able to win that job. Working with Harry for six years was a great experience. I learned a lot about sports broadcasting, and later, I had my own radio talk show six nights a week for a couple of years on WIND in Chicago. I’m proud that it was one of the highest rated drive-time shows in the city. During that time I was doing on-air TV broadcasting and promotions for the White Sox, while LaRussa was managing the team. You can read about my time with Tony in
The Truth Hurts
, too.

After that, all of a sudden I hooked an interview with Dallas Green over at the Cubs. And that’s always made me grin, because he was pitching when I hit my 100th with the Mets. Dallas was looking for help with his coaching, he brought me in, and I made a presentation to him. I thought that I’d had enough of broadcasting work, so I told him that day, “I’ll do the job for nothing if I have to, to prove I can do it.” And that’s what happened, and after about a month or so they hired me. That started my career with the Cubs, and we have been going for fourteen years now.

I’ve had the good fortune to work with kids like Rafael Palmeiro when he began as an outfielder (later they changed him into a first baseman), and Jerome Walton, and Doug Glanville as a rookie. Altogether I had fourteen young people who I helped with their development to become major league players. That’s been quite a thrill. Right now I’m working with a talented kid—Cory Patterson, signed as an outfielder. He’s capable of earning the money they’ve given him. He’s got the attitude, he’s got the ability to learn, and he’s a very quick learner. He’s in the instructional league in Arizona now. They send the young ones out for about five weeks in the fall. We play ball games with other clubs’ kids, and they get instruction at the same time.

Now I roam all over the country for the Cubs. I spend the summers with the six teams the Cubs have, and I go through them all periodically. I talk baseball with these kids. I talk reality with them. I talk to them about what it takes—and not just in the game. One kid was going around saying, “I’m not going to be a power hitter,” and “I can’t field good,” and I told him, “No, you hit .300 in A ball, and you’re nineteen years old, and you’re going to make millions of dollars. Just keep playing as best you can.” He had a great year, and he is still nineteen—a kid.

Kids will talk to me because they know I won’t talk behind their backs, and lots of times I’ve told them to go and get a job. I say, “If after three years you don’t have the credentials, you don’t have a future. If you’re not out of the A level after three years, it’s time to start your career in something else, because you’ve got to live.” To me, you’ve got to put some numbers on the board, to have shown by then what you can do. Pitchers take a little longer, but I don’t really get involved with too many pitchers. The only thing I know about pitchers is that I could hit ’em!

I was a good fielder too. My lifetime fielding average was .997. It doesn’t seem right that the record books got me at .990, because I made ten errors at shortstop when they had me play there that first year. I don’t know how many games I played there, but they put them in along with my fielding in the outfield. I called the Encyclopedia people a few years ago and they said they would change it, but they never did. They just put it all together no matter what position you played, which doesn’t really tell you anything.

Once I established myself, I could see that the fans would stand and give ovations. You don’t see fielders get ovations like they give these home run hitters, but I was getting them coming out of the field after I made some catches. Time and time again I had an opportunity to make big plays. A lot of times you could play all year and not really show your ability because you got a lot of easy chances.

So I tell these kids, “Don’t ever give up on a ball. Don’t go three-quarters out. Don’t ever say, ‘What the hell,’ when the ball looks likes it’s hit out, just keep running. You don’t know what is going to happen.” That’s why my kids make a lot of outstanding plays.

My first year in the majors Casey Stengel picked me for the All-Star team, so the whole thing was wonderful for me. My biggest opportunity came when I played my first exhibition game that spring against the Dodgers—Carl Erskine was pitching and I was five for five. The first baseman was Gil Hodges, second base was Jackie Robinson, the shortstop was Pee Wee Reese, Bobby Cox was at third, Campanella catching, Gene Hermanski in left, Snider in center, and Furillo in right. That’s a pretty good ball club. That was a real turning point. Because I had fears in my mind whether I could really play or not.

I was very fortunate that Mr. Yawkey sent me to Florida later, as you read in
Fear Strikes Out
. George Susce, a coach who lived down there, kept saying, “You’re the best right fielder around.” That really helped me because all during my career I had the fear of someone taking my job.

This is what I try to tell the kids. You can’t be complacent and think, “well my mother or father will take care of me for a year when I get home.” You’ve got to go out and play every game like it’s the World Series, you’ve got to produce, and your competition means only seven percent of you make it. Don’t loaf, don’t put your head down when you strike out. All these things I’ve learned to communicate with these kids. They know I don’t stand for someone coming to me at eight o’clock in the morning without enthusiasm and a desire to learn. I tell them to listen when I’m making corrections and don’t be embarrassed if I pull you over to teach something. But they understand.

Kids are great. Kids today are smart as hell, and if you know what you’re talking about, they’ll listen. They respect you. And every morning that I come in, they say, “Good morning, Jim,” and I kid with them, and it’s really keeping me alive. Which is why I don’t plan to retire. I wouldn’t be very happy about it. I’m not prepared to sit around the house and watch television all day.

Baseball is better than ever too. Everybody can play baseball, whether they play with a tennis ball or rubber ball or with toilet paper or whatever. Half of the fans in the stands are women. In baseball there are so many home runs there is tremendous excitement now. I can’t believe how much better the players get each year. And everyone is talking about baseball again—asking “who are you rooting for?” I love it.

I started out as a guy without an education. But because of baseball and an ability to work hard, I have done all right just the same. So when they say about me, “Is he really nuts?” I can say I worked hard all my life, I fought my fears, and I was determined to win. And I’m a happy man.

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cover design by Milan Bozic

978-1-4532-2074-0

This edition published in 2011 by Open Road Integrated Media

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New York, NY 10014

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