A couple great moments with Jimmy Piersall
It was with much sadness that I read about the passing of Jimmy Piersall. He was certainly entertaining, and he and Harry Caray were the only reason I was able to watch the White Sox during some pretty terrible years.
Unlike Hawk Harrelson, who is so loyal to the Sox that you have to wonder if he’s watching the same game that you are, Jimmy really told it like it was. If a player was dogging it or if they made a bone- headed play, he ripped into them. Jimmy could be over the top in some of his commentary, but there was no denying he knew his baseball.
Much has been written over the years about his legendary lack of a mute button for his thoughts and words as well as his inability to control his temper. I was fortunate to see Jimmy in person on two occasions. I don’t remember the exact year, but when our family lived in Willowbrook, the towns of Willowbrook and Burr Ridge formed a league for kids from those two towns. International Harvestor donated some land so the towns could develop several baseball fields. Jimmy Piersall was invited to give a brief talk at a ribbon- cutting ceremony. Well, long story short, whoever was in charge of getting a PA system only brought a very small speaker. Consequently, you could barely hear Jimmy speak. So now people started talking, which made it even harder to hear. Well out of the blue, Jimmy yells, “Hey! Shut up! I’m talking.”
The very next day, I am heading tomy health club and fighting some heavy traffic. I’m trying to make a left hand turn to get into the club parking lot. The oncoming traffic just keeps coming in what seemed like forever. I saw what looked like a little break in the traffic and started to move forward like I was going tomake the turn. My instincts got the better of me and I stopped. The next thing I hear is the guy behind me is honking his horn. I look in the rearview mirror and see a guy shaking his fist and it’s Jimmy Piersall. I immediately think, this is awesome. Jimmy Piersall is yelling and honking atme. I’ll never forget it.
I got a lot of mileage with that story.
John C. Fawcett, Burr Ridge