Ball Four
by Jim Bouton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jim BoutonEdition: Paperback
Published: 1990-07-12
ISBN: 0020306652
Number of pages: 465
Publisher: Wiley
Book Reviews of Ball Four
Book Review: Funny, Profane and Honest. Play Ball
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a provocative book when it was first published. Jim Bouton, who had been a star pitcher for the New York Yankees, was trying to mount a comeback by working on a knuckleball in the bullpen of the expansion team Seattle Pilots less than five years later. He was a world away from pitching in two World Series in two successive seasons with players like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as team mates.
His fastball could no longer shatter a pane of glass, but his astute observations about professional sports broke many barriers that had existed between the owners, players and the fans. Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn publicly condemned the book.
Bouton was traded to Houston before the season ended. The last place Seattle Pilots faded and died. The team was sold and transferred to Milwaukee after only one year. As such, it is something of a historic artifact of the failed Pilots team as well as a humorous look at the National Pastime.
Summary of Ball Four
As a player, former hurler Jim Bouton did nothing half-way; he threw so hard he'd lose his cap on almost every pitch. In the early '70s, he tossed off one of the funniest, most revealing, insider's takes on baseball life in Ball Four, his diary of the season he tried to pitch his way back from oblivion on the strength of a knuckler. The real curve, though, is Bouton's honesty. He carves humans out of heroes, and shines a light into the game's corners. A quarter century later, Bouton's unique baseball voice can still bring the heat.Twentieth-anniversary edition of a baseball classic, with a new epilogue by Jim Bouton.
When first published in 1970, Ball Four stunned the sports world. The commissioner, executives, and players were shocked. Sportswriters called author Jim Bouton a traitor and "social leper." Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force him to declare the book untrue. Fans, however, loved the book. And serious critics called it an important social document. Today, Jim Bouton is still not invited to Oldtimer's Days at Yankee Stadium. But his landmark book is still being read by people who don'tordinarily follow baseball.
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