Few things are more uplifting than a comeback story. Whatever the adversity, real or imagined, the ability to overcome, is celebrated.

I played baseball in high school. Around my sophomore year, I came across a movie called Fear Strikes Out. I read the book, of the same name, recently. It is the story of Jimmy Piersall. Jimmy Piersall was one of the great Major League Baseball figures of the 1950’s. He was a right fielder for the Boston Red sox. Though his skill at baseball was without question, it was his struggle with mental illness that thrust him into the spotlight.

Jimmy lived life and played baseball, under great pressure. He worried about everything, and anticipated every possible catastrophe that could possibly lie ahead. Eventually, this took its toll. Piersall’s erratic and, sometimes violent, behavior, landed him in a mental institution, just as his career should have been taking off. In time, Jimmy conquered his issues, by re-learning how to deal with unpleasant situations.

Pressures that come with daily life can feel insurmountable. With time and effort, there is no denying the power of the human spirit. With a wife, three kids and a mother and father to support, Piersall certainly had a lot to handle. From one point of view, he felt enough heat to bring him to a mental break. On the other, the pressures pushed him to be something great.

Jimmy Piersall played in 1,734 games over a seventeen-year career. He hit 104 home runs, won two Gold Gloves, and appeared in two All Star games. He is in the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.