“A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.” – Earl Wilson. It has been said by many in the game that a pro ball player makes it based on mental toughness as much as talent. A hitter has less than a second to decide whether he will swing, where he will swing and what to do once he swings and if he succeeds 3 out of every 10 times, he is considered a success. And this with tens of thousands of people screaming at him, many not favorably. This would be enough to drive a normal man crazy and that’s exactly what happened to Red Sox player Jimmy Piersall, documented in his autobiography, Fear Strikes Out. His harrowing ordeal became a movie in 1957 with Anthony Perkins as Piersall and Karl Malden as the tough father with all his dreams invested in his son. Malden is, as usual, terrific and Perkins was certainly able to convey the depression and internal struggle that Piersall fought his whole life but as a ball player, well, Perkins makes a good depressed person. He is just too slight and weak to make us believe he was able to make it that far (and he has a terrible swing). But overall, still a fine movie.
7/10
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