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Author's Note: This is a true story. The events described in this tale actually occurred. Although the characters and names of the three cousins attending the game are fictitious, the author witnessed this first hand.
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They knew it was going to be an interesting day at Yankee Stadium, Jimmy Piersall was in the lineup for the California Angels. He was their substitute center fielder. Who is Jimmy Piersall? A brash, high-strung, and controversial baseball player who made a splash with the Boston Red Sox in 1953. Born November 14, 1929 he began his Major League career on September 7, 1950. He suffered a severe mental breakdown, and in those early years hardly anyone was sympathetic. His career had its ups and downs; when he recovered and returned from the mental institution he was watched with great anticipation.
People expected to see his zany antics at the ballpark; many taunted him hoping he would have another breakdown and go berserk, and the fans delighted when he did. While with Boston he exchanged insults and punches with Billy Martin under the stands before the game. It took three men to break up the fight. Piersall went to the clubhouse to change his bloody shirt and got into another brawl with teammate Maury McDermott. He had fist-fights with players on many occasions, yelled at the fans and did numerous other crazy things. His bizarre behavior followed him from team to team. He played 17 seasons on 6 different teams, ending his Big League career in 1967. "Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was going nuts. Whoever heard of Jimmy Piersall, until that happened?" He was quoted as saying. Anthony Perkins portrayed him in the 1957 film "Fear Strikes Out." While with the Cleveland Indians he hid behind the monuments in Yankee Stadium's center field. He joined the Mets for one year in 1963 and ran the bases backwards after slugging his 100th homer. He really irked the manager Casey Stengel. Piersall once said of Casey (1963), "Everybody knows Casey Stengel has forgotten more baseball than I'll ever know. That's the trouble, he's forgotten it!"
Again, when he was with the Indians, he did a war dance in center field to distract Ted Williams at bat. He was thrown out of countless games for his misbehavior. He was certainly offbeat and it was because of his well-publicized illness that the fans flocked to the ballpark. But no one could have expected the events that unfolded that day, Sunday, April 25, 1965, when Jimmy Piersall and his Angels came to the Bronx to play the Yankees in a doubleheader.
It was a clear, bright, beautiful day that Sunday. Dark blue, high skies, hardly a cloud could be seen. It was a little nippy, but it was a typical crisp Spring day. Joey Amalfatano and his cousins John Henry and John Albert Perry, the Perry boys, left their apartment house on the Grand Concourse and hopped the D train for Yankee Stadium at 161st Street and River Avenue. They packed a light lunch, and brought along a transistor radio to listen to the play-by-play.
"Joey, I can't wait to see the lunatic Piersall," started John Henry, "Last time I was at the game and he was playing, he got mad at a fan and ran to the netting behind home and started to climb it screaming and cursing at the guy. What a madhouse."
"I remember watching it on TV," replied Joey
"Yea- you can count on him. Hey, we'll get our money's worth boys," John Albert said, chiming in. They all smiled and laughed. It didn't take much for thirteen year olds to find something amusing.
Stepping off the train, they headed right for the ticket booth and purchased their bleacher seats, and a couple of programs. John Henry bought a yearbook and a pennant. There was excitement in the air. They headed right for their seats, in time for batting practice. - hoping to get a glimpse of Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle. Ford was pitching the first game that day, against Marcellino Lopez the Angel starter.
It wasn't long afterwards that game time had come around and the Yanks ready to take the field. Well, the cousins knew it was going to be a special, rip-roaring day. During the singing of the National Anthem, some bozo three rows behind them was belting out the Star Spangle Banner at the top of his lungs! He was obviously already drunk. And suprisingly he was actually singing in tune. "Not bad," Joey said as a wide grin cross his lips, "Boy is that guy soused, but he can really carry a tune!" Everyone nearby turned to look at the young man. There wasn't an empty seat in the stadium that day. The game was about to begin as the Yankees took the field.
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