Al Hirshberg


Albert Simon Hirshberg, frequently credited as Al Hirshberg, was a Boston-based author and sportswriter who was primarily active in the 1930s to the 1960s. He is best known as the co-author of Jimmy Piersall's 1955 autobiography titled Fear Strikes Out: The Jimmy Piersall Story, that was later made into the 1957 film Fear Strikes Out, starring Anthony Perkins. He also wrote several books on the history of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, and co-wrote dozens of other people's memoirs, often, but not exclusively, about baseball players and/or Boston area sports figures and teams. He worked for The Boston Post from 1930-1952 and the Boston Herald from 1964–1968.

Personal life

Al was born on May 10, 1909, the son of David Hirshberg. He served as an officer in the United States Navy in the South Pacific during World War II. Al was married to Bert Cohen Hirshberg, an editor of Bostonia and benefactor of Boston University. It was her second marriage. They had no children together. She died in a car accident on February 2, 2008. He had two children from an earlier marriage to Marjorie Littauer Hirshberg, to whom he was married for 31 years until her death in 1970. ref name = NYT/>
Hirshberg had continued sportswriting until his death and had moved to Longboat Key, Florida for the winter. He died of a heart attack at a hospital in Sarasota, Florida on April 13, 1973, age 63.