Ball Four: The Final Pitch
by Jim Bouton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jim BoutonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-04-01
ISBN: 097091170X
Number of pages: 540
Publisher: Bulldog Publishing
Book Reviews of Ball Four: The Final Pitch
Book Review: Pitcher Hits Home-Run!
Summary: 5 Stars
It's easy to see why this extraordinary book created such a sensation when it first came out in 1970. Bouton, a sporadically successful pitcher nearing the end of his career, airs ALL of Major League baseball's dirty laundry--all those long and carefully concealed nasties and naughties, from relatively minor stuff such as the pervasive use of profanity to more serious issues like habitual drug use, heavy drinking and rampant womanizing. He also documents anti-intellectualism, lingering racial bigotry, homophobia and the casual cruelty of established stars towards rookies and fans. I kept wondering, as I read, to what extent Bouton himself participated in the activities he describes. He admits to drinking and popping the occasional "greenie" (speed, I assume), but never directly owns up to any marital infidelities.He also exposed the dirtiest baseball secret of all, which wasn't sex, but salaries. It may come as a shock to present-day readers, accustomed to multi-millionaire baseball stars, to learn that players 30+ years ago earned barely subsistence wages and were totally at the mercy of club owners. I was flabbergasted to learn that Bouton, with a wife and three kids, earned LESS than my own extremely modest salary at that time as a (single) university Instructor!
But this book isn't a heavy-handed, moralistic indictment of Major League baseball. Instead, it's gloriously goofy and hilariously funny! As a writer, Bouton has a genuine, unique "voice," which I suspect owes very little to his editor. Someone could hand me a copy of any paragraph from _Ball Four_ and I'd recognize it instantly as Bouton. How many authors can you say that about?
To me, the funniest anecdote in a book full of marvelous stories is Bouton's report that the Seattle Pilots' manager fined players for appearing at the clubhouse post-game buffet--as Bouton delicately puts it--"with Charlie uncovered." In itself, this is a funny, somewhat crude anecdote; it's Bouton's additional comment that raises it to the level of high comedy art. He notes that if the Yankees had instituted the same rule they'd have made a fortune in fines, since Elston Howard and Yogi Berra both were "famous for dragging Charlie through the cold cuts." That line alone is worth the price of the book!
Summary of Ball Four: The Final Pitch
Ball Four is a baseball classic, a number one bestseller when it was published; it still is in demand throughout the U.S. Now in a new updated hardcover edition, Ball Four will reach a whole new generation of avid baseball fans. In fact, Ball Four has been selected by the NY Public Library as one of the "Books of the Century." And David Halberstam writes: "a book deep in the American Vein, so deep in fact that is by no means a sports book." Bouton has written a baseball book about the reality of the game. Thirty years after its publication, it remains as wonderful to read as ever.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.
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