Ball Four
From BR Bullpen
Published in 1970, Ball Four (ISBN 0020306652), subtitled: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues is in the form of a journal kept by Jim Bouton. During the winter of 1969-1970, Bouton and New York Times sportswriter Leonard Schecter, put his journal into book form.
Ball Four traces Bouton's 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and his trade to the Houston Astros. He recounts vivid details of life on an expansion team, hopelessness of a losing season, and the pain of realizing that your career is ending at age 31.
Ball Four was a groundbreaking book for its time. Bouton recalled his time as a young player with the New York Yankees. He publicly stated many things that were never mentioned before, such as Mickey Mantle's alcoholism, rampant adultery on the road, and a widespread use of amphetamines by ballplayers.
After the publication of Ball Four, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn asked Bouton to recant much of what he wrote. Bouton refused and was unofficially blacklisted.
[edit] Further Reading
- Mark Armour: "The revolution started here", in Mark Armour, ed.: Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest, Society for American Baseball Research, Cleveland, OH, 2006, pp. 108-113.
- Jim Bouton: Ball Four (originally published in 1970)
[edit] Related Sites
- The Ball Four website: [1]
