Probably the best thing that happened to me was going nuts. Nobody knew who I was until that happened.

Piersall was reunited with his former combatant Billy Martin who also had been acquired by the team. Piersall came back during the 1961 season earning a second Gold Glove while also finishing third in the batting race with a. Piersall who winters in Arizona and still does a sports radio show in Chicago was invited to a White House event honoring the 2004 World Champions Boston Red Sox on March 2 2005.

James Anthony Piersall (born November 14 1929) is an American former baseball center fielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for five teams from 1950 through 1967. Piersall is best known for his well-publicized battle with bipolar disorder that became the subject of the book and movie Fear Strikes Out.