MovieChat Forums > Fear Strikes Out (1957) Discussion > Climbing the backstop at Fenway Park

Climbing the backstop at Fenway Park

posted 17 years ago by cmancini-1
10 replies | jump to latest

I am curious to know if the incident where Jimmy Piersall has a nervous breakdown after hitting a homerun and then violently swings a bat at his teammates and climbs the backstop in Boston ever really happened and if it did was it accurately depicted.
I agree that Perkins obvious unatheleticism made the baseball scenes very didstracting. It reminded me of what former baseball star Lefty O'Doul said of Gary Cooper while tutoring him for his role of Lou Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees,"... he looks like an old lady tossing a hot buscuit."

[–] sandlot3 17 years ago

Piersall himself says that the backstop incident never happened. In fact, the breakdown actually occured in a hotel room in Sarasota, Florida. Also, his mother had a history of mental imbalances that was not depicted in the film.

Perkins was not a good athlete to begin with (see his work in "Tall Story"). To make matters worse, he was a natural left-hander trying to bat and throw right-handed.

[–] cowgoesmoo 17 years ago

Piersall himself says that the backstop incident never happened.

Darn... Many years ago while visiting Boston, I attended Fenway Park with a girlfriend and we got seats right behind home plate. I made a big point of showing her where Jimmy Piersall climbed the backstop. And all these years I'd been wrong!

[–] Isolde411 16 years ago

The movie shows his mother having mental anguish a couple of times in the time. Karl Malden tries to soothe his wife, fretting that she is having one of her "nervous spells"...

[–] richieprimo 14 years ago

Also, his mother had a history of mental imbalances that was not depicted in the film.

Actually, at one point he told the doctor that during his youth his mother "was away a lot of the time"...possibly referring to her being treated for a mental problem without his knowledge?

"Nobody pulls one over on Fred C. Dobbs"

[–] LudwA 10 years ago

Also, his mother had a history of mental imbalances that was not depicted in the film.

this was definetely (but admittedly vaguely) hinted at... mother was 'always gabbing'and 'always away' (like another poster pointed out)

so if we think of nurture vs nature, mother was nature and dad was nurture, and the result was... not very comfortable for our baseball hero.

[–] freshsaltwater 16 years ago

My father remembers Jimmy Piersall's breakdown from when he was a kid. He said when he hit a homerun he ran around the bases twice. That wasn't in the movie though.

[–] r2626 16 years ago

I heard that when he hit his 100th homerun he ran the bases backward, going to thirs base first.

Help stamp out and do away with redundancy

[–] LittleRascalRicky 16 years ago

Well, Jimmy would have been called out when he touched third, for missing first and second base. I think it might have taken an appeal from the opposing team to make it an out, though.

[–] thomasm5 16 years ago

I saw that game! He ran the bases correctly, backwards.

[–] thomasm5 16 years ago

I read the book a long time ago. There was no incident that I recall at Fenway. I remember he had a breakdown in spring training away from the field and one of his biggest incidents was a fight with Billy Martin under the stands at Yankee Stadium. Piersall sued the makers of the film because they portrayed his problem so differently from what really happenned; mainly his father was not the little league parent from hell and his mother or his relationship with her wasa t the bottom of it all.