Fran Pirozzolo is officially a Yankee killer.
Pirozzolo, a mental skills coach for the Yankees from 1996 to 2002, helped the Marlins’ Josh Beckett and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez prepare for the 2003 World Series in which the Marlins beat the Yankees in six games and Beckett was named MVP.
Pirozzolo continued to hurt the Yankees this past October when he worked closely with Red Sox ace Curt Schilling, communicating with the self-centered Schilling on a daily basis from the start of the ALDS, through the ALCS when the Red Sox overcame a 3-0 Yankees lead, and into the World Series that the Red Sox copped in four games over the Cardinals.
Pirozzolo, who started working with Schilling when the pitcher was with the Astros in 1991, strongly believes in a program called guided visual imagery and is something Schilling heavily endorses.
“He believes in the mental part of the game,” Pirozzolo says of Schilling. “He is better prepared mentally and emotionally than anybody.”
That’s saying something since Pirozzolo’s client list includes Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Mike Piazza, Beckett and Pudge. He also is a player development coach for the NFL’s Houston Texans and worked closely with Paul O’Neill.
Pirozzolo, who worked briefly with the Mets in 2003, says the credit goes to Schilling for his unending work with the program that includes reading books and studying videos and has athletes visualize the situation before they are put in it.
“There is no way I was a specific influence,” Pirozzolo said. “He is very committed to a mental toughness program. I helped him and he has taken it to a new level.”
While they talked every day in October, Pirozzolo helped Schilling deal with the trade from Arizona to Boston and then telling rabid Red Sox fans he was there to break “The Curse Of The Bambino.”
“We visited in the off-season and worked out,” Pirozzolo said. “With all the stuff that was going on we turned it up a notch.”
Pirozzolo said he could have helped Schilling cope with the pain of a bothersome right foot during the playoffs but the pitcher didn’t ask. “I have a technique for dealing with pain, but he was off on his own,” Pirozzolo said. “He did all right on his own.”
Schilling rebounded from a shelling in Game 1 of the ALCS when he gave up six runs and six hits to the Yankees in three innings to hold them to one run and four hits in seven innings of Game 6 that the Red Sox won to set the stage for Game 7.
In his one World Series appearance Schilling labored with the foot but allowed one unearned run in six innings of a 6-2 Red Sox victory.
