Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
World Publishing Company (1970), Edition: 1st, 400 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Sports & Recreations. Nonfiction. HTML:The 50th Anniversary edition of "the book that changed baseball" (NPR), chosen by Time magazine as one of the "100 Greatest Non-Fiction" books. When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold, and a "social leper" for having violated the "sanctity of the clubhouse." Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn't true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn't read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four. Fans liked discovering that athletes were real people�??often wildly funny people. David Halberstam, who won a Pulitzer for his reporting on Vietnam, wrote a piece in Harper's that said of Bouton: "He has written . . . a book deep in the American vein, so deep in fact that it is by no means a sports book." Today Ball Four has taken on another role�??as a time capsule of life in the sixties. "It is not just a diary of Bouton's 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros," says sportswriter Jim Caple. "It's a vibrant, funny, telling history of an era that seems even further away than four decades. To call it simply a 'tell all book' is like describing The Grapes of Wrath as a book about harvesting peaches in California." Includes a new foreword by Jim Bouton's wife, Paula Kurman "An irreverent, best-selling book that angered baseball's hierarchy and changed the way journalists and fans viewed the sports world." �??The Washington… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member lindapanzo
In its day, Seattle Pilots pitcher Jim Bouton's baseball-tell-all book was genre changing. Before him, baseball stars didn't talk about what happens in the clubhouse. He was a smart guy and offered an interesting look at the 1969 season, the one and only season (as it later turned out) in the
I read this in the early 1970's and so this is a re-read for me, nearly 40 years later. The book holds up well. Of course, it's somewhat dated. The players are different and so is the game of baseball. Athletes were paid relatively miniscule amounts compared to their later counterparts and so money issues take a front seat.
To me, this book is a time capsule of players and the game I remember from my youth.
The odd thing is that, these days, this book seems pretty tame but back then, it was earthshaking. Absolutely loved what is widely seen as an icon in baseball literature.
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history of the Seattle Pilots who then became the Milwaukee Brewers. During the season, he was temporarily demoted to the minor league Vancouver Mounties, and later traded to a team in pennant contention, the Houston Astros.I read this in the early 1970's and so this is a re-read for me, nearly 40 years later. The book holds up well. Of course, it's somewhat dated. The players are different and so is the game of baseball. Athletes were paid relatively miniscule amounts compared to their later counterparts and so money issues take a front seat.
To me, this book is a time capsule of players and the game I remember from my youth.
The odd thing is that, these days, this book seems pretty tame but back then, it was earthshaking. Absolutely loved what is widely seen as an icon in baseball literature.
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LibraryThing member Schmerguls
5431. Ball Four The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (read 13 Dec 2016) I have long wanted to read Ball Four, since it so famous a book. With my interest in major league baseball gloriously renewed in this fantastic year of Cubs glory, I thought this would be a good time to read it. The edition of the
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book I read came out in 2014 and includes not only Ball Four (published first in 1970) but Ball Five,published ten years later and Ball Six published 20 years later and Ball Seven published 30 years later and an Epilogue dated April 2014. I found I enjoyed the book a lot, and it was often LOL funny and I was always glad to read it and not hoping it would be finished. Ball Seven, which tells of Bouton's daughter Laurie's death is grippingly sad. Ball Four uses gutter talk, no doubt accurately echoing the language players often use, but such use did not repel me as the same type of use in some books does, since I knew Bouton was trying to give a realistic account of life as a player. I frankly had forgotten there was such a team as the Seattle Pilots--they existed only in 1969 and I have not in the years since my youth paid much attention to the American League--but that is the team which Bouton played for during most of the 1969 season, being traded to Houston in August 1969. One is struck by the salaries which players got in those. In Ball Seven Bouton comments on whether one should deplore what players get these days and what he says makes a lot of sense--they get what they are able to induce owners to pay them. After all, it is the players who fans want to see. I found this book a thoroughly fascinating insight into life as a player and the New York Public library was right to include it in their 100 Books of the Century.list. Show Less
LibraryThing member Jamski
Ball Four has been a yearly read for me since I first discovered it on my Uncle Dick's bookcase back in, oh, I guess 73 or 74. It was the first sports book I'd ever read that portrayed its players as something other than superheroes. Rather, they are just men with a different sort of job, and they
Now I feel should explain my background here. I played Little League ball when I was young. I felt it a family obligation... you're a Reyome male, you play a sport. Well, I sucked at baseball. I enjoyed tennis, and basketball, and street hockey, but was at best uninterested in all of them.
This, I thought, made me weird. A deviant. I was, God forbid, different. I loved to sing, I loved to act, I loved to write. Was there a place for me in this sports-obsessed Reyome family world?
Well, apparently there is. This book did two important things for me...it taught me that baseball--nay, sports in general--was not everyone's be-all end-all. There was a life beyond it, and I think I learned that a lot sooner than anyone has a right to. Pretty darned important news for a 13 year old.
Weirdly though my interest in sports, especially baseball, did not lessen after this reading. Instead it grew and grew. I became intrigued with the statistical side of games, and in no time found myself employed as official scorer for a men's softball league. $15 a game in 1978? Yes, please! It beat working, I was good at it, and I was taken seriously...ask any of the guys who contested hits versus errors with me.
Then came motor racing. Well, who knew, my first interest in that singular sport was the stats...and I have made a pretty decent supplemental living with this pretty much ever since. I was in Timing & Scoring at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville this past weekend, a venue that's been a home away from home for me since 1992.
Inevitable Question: Do I really credit Jim Bouton and Ball Four for this?
Equally Certain Answer: You bet I do. By expressing the notion that there was a place for everyone in sports, even us deviants, he opened a lot of doors into worlds I never knew existed, worlds I am still exploring all these years later.
Read this book, cover to cover, even if you don't care a lick for baseball or sports of any kind. Truly, it might change your life. Otherwise you'll just enjoy a helluva entertaining read. Either way, there's no Loss...only a potential Win or a Save.
Thank you, Jim Bouton.
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live the same wacky lives we do. And that's where this book truly shines, so much that it transcends the sports book genre and rises to the creme of literature. It is something to experience, to savor.Now I feel should explain my background here. I played Little League ball when I was young. I felt it a family obligation... you're a Reyome male, you play a sport. Well, I sucked at baseball. I enjoyed tennis, and basketball, and street hockey, but was at best uninterested in all of them.
This, I thought, made me weird. A deviant. I was, God forbid, different. I loved to sing, I loved to act, I loved to write. Was there a place for me in this sports-obsessed Reyome family world?
Well, apparently there is. This book did two important things for me...it taught me that baseball--nay, sports in general--was not everyone's be-all end-all. There was a life beyond it, and I think I learned that a lot sooner than anyone has a right to. Pretty darned important news for a 13 year old.
Weirdly though my interest in sports, especially baseball, did not lessen after this reading. Instead it grew and grew. I became intrigued with the statistical side of games, and in no time found myself employed as official scorer for a men's softball league. $15 a game in 1978? Yes, please! It beat working, I was good at it, and I was taken seriously...ask any of the guys who contested hits versus errors with me.
Then came motor racing. Well, who knew, my first interest in that singular sport was the stats...and I have made a pretty decent supplemental living with this pretty much ever since. I was in Timing & Scoring at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville this past weekend, a venue that's been a home away from home for me since 1992.
Inevitable Question: Do I really credit Jim Bouton and Ball Four for this?
Equally Certain Answer: You bet I do. By expressing the notion that there was a place for everyone in sports, even us deviants, he opened a lot of doors into worlds I never knew existed, worlds I am still exploring all these years later.
Read this book, cover to cover, even if you don't care a lick for baseball or sports of any kind. Truly, it might change your life. Otherwise you'll just enjoy a helluva entertaining read. Either way, there's no Loss...only a potential Win or a Save.
Thank you, Jim Bouton.
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LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco
“The world doesn’t want to hear about labor pains,” Johnny Sain used to say. “It only wants to see the baby.”
My A's just lost their Wild Card game, so I though I'd end my personal baseball season by finally reading this!
The book is about the author's 1969 season, spent with the Seattle
It is dated, and at times offensive, the "beaver hunting" probably being the most so. But even with that, it was interesting to read in the Editor's Forward by Leonard Shecter that they had to "make a decision, too, about the use of language.", and that the reader should, "Rate it X.". Now, he wrote that in January 1970, but I must say that by 2019's standards, this would be PG-13, or R at most! Crazy how times, and standards, change...
I really did enjoy this book, and found myself laughing out loud many times! But I do wonder how the author could justify revealing so many things about his friends, teammates, and the locker room itself. I would be pissed if I were his friend or teammate! So, a really good read, from a man I would have never, ever trusted!
My A's just lost their Wild Card game, so I though I'd end my personal baseball season by finally reading this!
The book is about the author's 1969 season, spent with the Seattle
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Pilots and then the Houston Astros after a late-season trade. In it, Bouton also recounts much of his baseball career, spent mainly with the New York Yankees. He also describes how he attempts to make the Pilots out of spring training, and what happens when he gets demoted to the AAA Vancouver Mounties. All of the stories are extremely entertaining! And it's a pretty good detailing of a player who has won games in two World Series, and is now just hanging on and trying to land a pitching spot on an expansion team. With basically just a knuckleball left. It is dated, and at times offensive, the "beaver hunting" probably being the most so. But even with that, it was interesting to read in the Editor's Forward by Leonard Shecter that they had to "make a decision, too, about the use of language.", and that the reader should, "Rate it X.". Now, he wrote that in January 1970, but I must say that by 2019's standards, this would be PG-13, or R at most! Crazy how times, and standards, change...
I really did enjoy this book, and found myself laughing out loud many times! But I do wonder how the author could justify revealing so many things about his friends, teammates, and the locker room itself. I would be pissed if I were his friend or teammate! So, a really good read, from a man I would have never, ever trusted!
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LibraryThing member hskey
Really glad I read this. Ball Four is terrific, very funny and eye-opening. Easy to read. Well written. It really feels like Jim is talking to you, directly. The baseball stuff is hilarious, and the decades later updates were both heartbreaking and melancholy.
What a fascinating individual. He's no
Getting a real kick out of my non-fiction binge lately. I used to not be as interested, but the best books I've read this year have all been non-fiction. Just a side note, that has nothing to do with Ball Four.
What a fascinating individual. He's no
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saint, and he wouldn't say he was, but he certainly is one of the most significant baseball players ever and it has nothing to do with his ability to throw the Knuckleball. It's amazing to hear how controversial this was in 1970, obviously now a lot of the stuff he writes about is pretty tame, but back then it was a nuclear revolution that pro athletes weren't heroes, but regular funny/flawed dudes just like in real life. Many of his inner fears/thoughts are ones we have about our every day lives. You really feel like you're living in the dugout with him.Getting a real kick out of my non-fiction binge lately. I used to not be as interested, but the best books I've read this year have all been non-fiction. Just a side note, that has nothing to do with Ball Four.
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LibraryThing member patl
The first of the sports tell-all books, Bouton wrote this diary of a baseball season and blew the lid off the culture of baseball in the late '60s, when sportswriters gave athletes their privacy. Bouton doesn't, so you hear about the prevalence of amphetamines, who's an alcoholic, the dimwittedness
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of management, etc. Very funny, and I read it every year before baseball season starts :-) Warning, potty language :) Show Less
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
I actually thought the part about his time with the Pilots was kind of dull, but when he got to the Astros, it really got fun. I think Bouton found his voice at the same time as he came into this group of characters. One thing that made me happy was that racial divisions on the team weren't very
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evident when he came to Houston. I'm proud to know that it just wasn't a big deal on the team. The follow-ups were very well written. There was a lot of honesty in what we said about himself and the game he played. Overall, I enjoyed it. I would have given it 3-1/2 stars if that was an option. Show Less
LibraryThing member mjgrogan
With an understanding that this supposedly represents the first of a, now, endless stream of MLB “tell-alls” – a genre I’m not necessarily interested in – I thought I’d give it a shot. I immediately found it a dull, piecemeal collage of day-to-day anecdotes that didn’t really come off
It was an idyllic time. All fans of baseball were of the awe-shucks typology. The Babe had been a tribute to pure athleticism. Mickey Mantle wasn’t really doing shots at that hotel bar. Baseball owners weren’t really in violation of the Sherman Act. No one who was exposed to Vietnam, fire-hosed children, riots, assassinations, and potential nuclear proliferation on a day-to-day basis could possibly believe that ball players would use the F-bomb and scratch! Nobody could be prepared for this exposé! - M. Grogan
Alright, barring my typical BS digressions, as I hesitantly worked through about 100 pages of this thing, I realized I began to enjoy this guy’s story, or notes, or what have you. In a strange way it all comes together despite the lack of discernable thesis – just some dude and his diary (and patient editor). In fact he seems to deftly disperse occasional extra-baseball societal items here and there as a kind of contextual grounding tool that positions the relative silliness of a professionally structured game within the more turbulent context of the era. The big baseball “exposé” is really just telling locker room stories where casual tales about unsophisticated management, the machinations of (more than) occasional meathead teammates, and player rights exploitation pre-free agency cautiously express the reality about the highest echelon of the sport. This likely deconstructed the idealized views of the Topps card-wielding youth who was forbidden from reading it by mom. For the adults, Bouton proved/proves fairly comical and clever. Additionally, like any good baseball book, it ends with the Astros predictably blowing another playoff bid in the last week or so... It’s a pretty good read if you’re into the sport and certainly I can imagine the consternation of some embarrassed players, owners, etc. that resulted in Bouton’s subsequent Black-listing.
I read the version including the Fifth Ball – essentially the ten-year revisitation – that, while more coherent and thankfully brief, seemed an undesired appendage. The best part was the “where are they now” portion listing former managers and players washing cars, coaching in the minors, or vanished. Obviously this is a “Where is Jim now?” addition, with the post-book network news career, amazing baseball comeback, and invention of Big League Chew Bubble Gum. I understand that he’s written another book or two so I’m not sure if those cover the post 1970 years, but they seem to want a book of their own for readers more interested than myself.
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as anything approaching scandalous. Ballplayers drink beer? Some have “Baseball Annies” (viz. groupies)? Greenies? Certainly these things are bad – except beer…and girls if you’re single …and what the hell with the amphetamines if it equalizes the playing field in relation to all the asterisk guys these days? Whatever. Obviously the reader (at least one born roughly as the book went to press) must understand that this was penned – or dictated – within a previous, clean/buzz cut era on the heels of Opie Taylor gone fishing:It was an idyllic time. All fans of baseball were of the awe-shucks typology. The Babe had been a tribute to pure athleticism. Mickey Mantle wasn’t really doing shots at that hotel bar. Baseball owners weren’t really in violation of the Sherman Act. No one who was exposed to Vietnam, fire-hosed children, riots, assassinations, and potential nuclear proliferation on a day-to-day basis could possibly believe that ball players would use the F-bomb and scratch! Nobody could be prepared for this exposé! - M. Grogan
Alright, barring my typical BS digressions, as I hesitantly worked through about 100 pages of this thing, I realized I began to enjoy this guy’s story, or notes, or what have you. In a strange way it all comes together despite the lack of discernable thesis – just some dude and his diary (and patient editor). In fact he seems to deftly disperse occasional extra-baseball societal items here and there as a kind of contextual grounding tool that positions the relative silliness of a professionally structured game within the more turbulent context of the era. The big baseball “exposé” is really just telling locker room stories where casual tales about unsophisticated management, the machinations of (more than) occasional meathead teammates, and player rights exploitation pre-free agency cautiously express the reality about the highest echelon of the sport. This likely deconstructed the idealized views of the Topps card-wielding youth who was forbidden from reading it by mom. For the adults, Bouton proved/proves fairly comical and clever. Additionally, like any good baseball book, it ends with the Astros predictably blowing another playoff bid in the last week or so... It’s a pretty good read if you’re into the sport and certainly I can imagine the consternation of some embarrassed players, owners, etc. that resulted in Bouton’s subsequent Black-listing.
I read the version including the Fifth Ball – essentially the ten-year revisitation – that, while more coherent and thankfully brief, seemed an undesired appendage. The best part was the “where are they now” portion listing former managers and players washing cars, coaching in the minors, or vanished. Obviously this is a “Where is Jim now?” addition, with the post-book network news career, amazing baseball comeback, and invention of Big League Chew Bubble Gum. I understand that he’s written another book or two so I’m not sure if those cover the post 1970 years, but they seem to want a book of their own for readers more interested than myself.
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LibraryThing member markm2315
Jim Bouton’s classic and entertaining tell-all book made from his diary written during his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers) and the Houston Astros. There was a huge uproar when it was published - how dare he mention Mickey Mantle’s drinking!? - and Bouton was
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persona non grata especially with his old team the Yankees for many years, and for some he still is - just read the other reviews here. The book is, of course, about baseball, but it is also about Bouton’s coming to grips with his own inadequacies and, maybe, learning about the nature of workplace sociology. Because, to me, this book only happens to be set on a baseball team; the facts are familiar to anyone who works anywhere, and that is why it remains popular. In a sense Bouton plays an innocent who is shocked to discover that his boss is interested in his own job, not Bouton’s. He is angry that the team won’t pay him as much as he thinks he is worth. He is mad that middle management is incompetent and that they get their jobs because they don’t give the big boss a hard time. Well, that’s how it is and how it will be. The book’s success also owes something to the fact that it appeared around the time of the coming of free-agency in baseball - and serves as a reminder that the only power at the bottom is through organization. Show Less
LibraryThing member jimrgill
The impact of this book can never be underestimated. Before 1970, when it was first published, there had never been a “tell all” written by a professional athlete. And while much of the misbehavior that Bouton describes among his Seattle Pilot and Houston Astro teammates seems downright quaint
As a narrative, however, it leaves much to be desired. Structured as a daily chronicle of Bouton’s 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots (who ceased to exist after their single season, after which they moved to Milwaukee and transformed into the Brewers) and later the Houston Astros, there is nothing resembling a genuine story here—more precisely, the book is more littérature vérité than crafted plot. The book reads like a diary/journal, and each entry is prefaced by the date and city where the action occurs. So if it’s a well-structured narrative plot you’re seeking, look elsewhere. But if you want a “slice of life” look behind the scenes of 1969 major league baseball, this is the book for you.
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by today’s standards, Bouton was among the first to reveal the unsavory practices that management too often perpetrated at the expense of players. For its scathing honesty, Bouton’s wit and keen observation, and its trailblazing effect on future sports memoirs and exposés, Ball Four is a remarkable achievement.As a narrative, however, it leaves much to be desired. Structured as a daily chronicle of Bouton’s 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots (who ceased to exist after their single season, after which they moved to Milwaukee and transformed into the Brewers) and later the Houston Astros, there is nothing resembling a genuine story here—more precisely, the book is more littérature vérité than crafted plot. The book reads like a diary/journal, and each entry is prefaced by the date and city where the action occurs. So if it’s a well-structured narrative plot you’re seeking, look elsewhere. But if you want a “slice of life” look behind the scenes of 1969 major league baseball, this is the book for you.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
This is a study of the struggles of a declining athlete, to continue playing. Interesting levels of desperation are revealed.
LibraryThing member sdave001
I loved the first edition and this updated edition is even better. Bouton takes you on a very entertaining journey behind the closed doors of the baseball world. Bouton is certainly pretty full of himself and I'm sure has embellished a little but I still love his stories.
Certainly a departure from
Certainly a departure from
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your normal high brow baseball books but that, in itself, is refreshing. Show Less
LibraryThing member Othemts
This is the classic baseball "behind-the-scenes" book. Bouton is a thoughtful, insightful writer and incredibly funny. Plus this diary is an artifact of the gone and almost forgotten Seattle Pilots. I read the most recent edition which is almost twice as long with Bouton's updates on his career and
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life. But it's all the more fun, because Bouton is a character I want to know more about and the further you read into the book the more you feel, as Bouton puts it, like family. Show Less
LibraryThing member hildr8
Good book and a classic, Enjoyable read. Bouton immediately makes you sympathetic. His liberal politics and easy going manner were even more of an attraction for me. This book has everthing you'll want to know about baseball players and their habits, extracurricular activities, work ethics and
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attitude etc. Lots of odd balls playing and managing in baseball. This is 1969-70 so the material is not quite as raunchy as say The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman. Show Less
LibraryThing member drewfull
Should be read by all baseball fans, Ball Four is an inside look at a baseball life and the characters that comprise it. Bouton tells his stories with glee, and true baseballers will enjoy his tales of Mickey Mantle, Lou Pinella and Whitey Ford, but everyone can enjoy his trip riding the successes
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and failures with the the finicky knuckleball. You may start the book looking for cheap laughs, but I ended it with a genuine appreciation for the half-mental (as Yogi Berra once said) side of the game. Show Less
LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
My copy of this is a mass market with a missing cover and brittle, yellowed pages. The original sports tell-all book. seems tame now, but in 1970 writing that players on the Seattle Pilots bus were running around and kissing each other on the mouth was a really big deal. Bouton was blackballed from
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the game for probably 20 years after this book was published. Show Less
LibraryThing member beaurichly
When my son turned 11, I re-read to remember back to my first reading of this book at age 12. After dozens of "baseball hero" books, this one was a coming of age and the end of hero worship.
I later met Bouton in Portland, when he was knuckle balling for the single A Mavericks and had him sign my
I later met Bouton in Portland, when he was knuckle balling for the single A Mavericks and had him sign my
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book. It's sitting on my office shelf today. Show Less
LibraryThing member nmele
I recently decided to reread this book and found myself appreciating Jim Bouton's point of view, discretion (yes, discretion) and sense of humor more than I did his pitching when he was a Yankee phenomenon. Well worth a read, and a great memorial to the Seattle Pilots.
LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco
This edition has Ball 4, 5, 6, and 7. Below, is the end of my review for "Ball Four" -
I really did enjoy this book, and found myself laughing out loud many times! But I do wonder how the author could justify revealing so many things about his friends, teammates, and the locker room itself. I would
"Ball Five" - “Why so much anger?” Bouton writes in “Ball Five”, ten years later. Really Jim? How clueless were you? I bet you don't understand why you had such a hard time broadcasting too? Gee whiz man, try so actual soul-searching! Teammates and friends didn't like that you wrote that stuff without their permission! How hard is that to understand?
The positive side of "Ball Five" is the update, ten years later, of where some of the Pilots ended up. Plus, Jim's pitching comeback! And the fact that Bouton helped invent Big League Chew! I loved that stuff growing up! Thanks Jim!
"Ball Six" was written 20 years after the original, and "Ball Seven" thirty years after. I had my belly full of Bouton's ego, and skimmed those two. I just don't like his braggadocio and high opinion of himself. Plus, his continual questioning of "why do they STILL not like what I did?" just seems pathetic. Like I said above, "Ball Four" is a really entertaining read, but the author is not a person I would have ever trusted.
I really did enjoy this book, and found myself laughing out loud many times! But I do wonder how the author could justify revealing so many things about his friends, teammates, and the locker room itself. I would
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be pissed if I were his friend or teammate! So, a really good read, from a man I would have never, ever trusted!"Ball Five" - “Why so much anger?” Bouton writes in “Ball Five”, ten years later. Really Jim? How clueless were you? I bet you don't understand why you had such a hard time broadcasting too? Gee whiz man, try so actual soul-searching! Teammates and friends didn't like that you wrote that stuff without their permission! How hard is that to understand?
The positive side of "Ball Five" is the update, ten years later, of where some of the Pilots ended up. Plus, Jim's pitching comeback! And the fact that Bouton helped invent Big League Chew! I loved that stuff growing up! Thanks Jim!
"Ball Six" was written 20 years after the original, and "Ball Seven" thirty years after. I had my belly full of Bouton's ego, and skimmed those two. I just don't like his braggadocio and high opinion of himself. Plus, his continual questioning of "why do they STILL not like what I did?" just seems pathetic. Like I said above, "Ball Four" is a really entertaining read, but the author is not a person I would have ever trusted.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
I don't know how to sort out an ambiguous entry. This book, when searched for as Ball four, Bouton gives an author with a typo. Jim, not KIM, Bouton is the author.
That aside, it's a good book about a pitcher who's fast ball is no longer at his command. Facing professional extinction, he re-makes
That aside, it's a good book about a pitcher who's fast ball is no longer at his command. Facing professional extinction, he re-makes
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himself as a knuckle ball guy. The observation of the reactions of his management until he can re-establish himself give me a lot more sympathy for athlete reaching the end of their careers. Show Less
LibraryThing member Stevejm51
One of the first looks inside a baseball locker room, "Ball Four" is at times hysterical, other times shockingly frank. A must read for the baseball fan.
LibraryThing member mjspear
First-hand account of a gifted pitcher who played for 4 major league teams in the 1960s, including the Yankees. Bouton has a great sarcastic voice and isn't afraid to tell all, especially about fellow players. (He had a love/hate relationship with Mickey Mantle, e.g.)
LibraryThing member bravesfan16
This is the tell all sports book that started it all. I'm not big on tell-alls, but this one brings you inside what it's like in the locker room, on the team bus/plane, etc. An inside look men playing a boys game.
LibraryThing member EricCostello
The often very funny, very often eminently quotable, book about life in baseball in the late 1960s with an expansion team. Groundbreaking in its time, still relevant in many parts, and a good read.
LibraryThing member 5hrdrive
So tame that it's hard to believe this stirred up so much controversy when it first appeared. I guess people just liked having their sports heroes up on pedistals so much that they preferred not knowing the truth about athletes. That's one positive change that has come about in the last fifty
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years, and it's largely because of this little book right here. Show Less
Awards
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1970)
Language
Original publication date
1970
Physical description
400 p.