Albert Simon Hirshberg (May 10, 1909 April 13, 1973), was an American writer and

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

whose work was published primarily from the 1930s to the 1960s. He is best known as the co-author of

Jimmy Piersall James Anthony Piersall (November 14, 1929 – June 3, 2017) was an American baseball center fielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for five teams, from 1950 through 1967. Piersall was best known for his well-publicized b ...

's 1955 autobiography titled ''Fear Strikes Out: The Jimmy Piersall Story'', which was later made into the 1957 film ''

Fear Strikes Out ''Fear Strikes Out'' is a 1957 American biographical sports drama film depicting the life and career of American baseball All-Star player Jimmy Piersall. It is based on Piersall's 1955 memoir ''Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story'', co-writt ...

'', starring

Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor. Born in Manhattan, Perkins began his career as a teenager in summer stock theater, summer stock programs, although he acted in films before his time on Broadway the ...

Early life

Al was born on May 10, 1909, the son of David Hirshberg. He served as an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in the South Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Hirshberg wrote several books on the history of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

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 ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before its final shutdown in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston businessmen, Charles G. Greene and William Beals. Edwin Groz ...

'' from 1930 to 1952 and the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

'' from 1964 to 1968. In 1969 he collaborated with

Ken Harrelson Kenneth Smith Harrelson (born September 4, 1941), nicknamed "the Hawk" due to his distinctive profile, is an American former professional baseball player and television announcer. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1971 as a ...

on Harrelson's autobiographical tome ''Hawk''.

Personal life

Hirshberg had two children from his marriage to Marjorie Littauer Hirshberg, to whom he was married for 31 years until her death in 1970. Hirshberg then married Bert Cohen Hirshberg (née Milstone), an editor of '' Bostonia'' and benefactor of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. It was her second marriage. They had no children together. She died in a car accident on February 2, 2008. Hirshberg had continued sportswriting until his death and had moved to

Longboat Key A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boa ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

for the winter. He died of a heart attack at a hospital in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

on April 13, 1973, age 63.

References

1909 births 1973 deaths Sportswriters from Massachusetts People from Longboat Key, Florida Sportswriters from New York (state) The Boston Post people {{US-journalist-1900s-stub