(photo courtesy Getty Images)
WHEATON, IL (AP) - The Major League Baseball outfielder who was portrayed by Anthony Perkins in the 1957 movie "Fear Strikes Out" has died.
MLB.com quotes Boston Red Sox officials as saying Jimmy Piersall passed away Saturday at a care facility in Wheaton, Illinois.
He was 87.
Piersall played for the Cleveland Indians from 1959 through 1961, collected 371 hits in 359 games for the Tribe and winning a Gold Glove in '61.
He also spent time with the Red Sox, the Washington Senators, the Mets and the then-California Angels.
He hit 104 home runs and drove in 272 RBIs during his 17-year career. Piersall later became a TV color commentator for the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox.
Piersall's struggles with bipolar disorder became the subject of the book and film "Fear Strikes Out."
He suffered a mental breakdown in 1952 that nearly ended his baseball career.