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Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original
From the day he first stepped into the Yankee clubhouse, Jim Bouton (1939–2019) was the sports world’s deceptive revolutionary. Underneath the crew cut and behind the all-American boy-next-door good looks lurked a maverick with a signature style. Whether it was his frank talk about player salaries and mistreatment by management, his passionate advocacy of progressive politics, or his efforts to convince the United States to boycott the 1968 Olympics, Bouton confronted the conservative sports world and compelled it to catch up with a rapidly changing American society.
Bouton defied tremendous odds to make the majors, won two games for the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, and staged an improbable comeback with the Braves as a thirty-nine-year-old. But it was his fateful 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and his resulting insider’s account, Ball Four, that did nothing less than reintroduce America to its national pastime in a lasting, profound way.
In Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, Mitchell Nathanson gives readers a look at Bouton’s remarkable life. He tells the unlikely story of how Bouton’s Ball Four, perhaps the greatest baseball book of all time, came into being, how it was received, and how it forever changed the way we view not only sports books but professional sports as a whole. Based on wide-ranging interviews Nathanson conducted with Bouton, family, friends, and others, he provides an intimate, inside account of Bouton’s life. Nathanson provides insight as to why Bouton saw the world the way he did, why he was so different than the thousands of players who came before him, and how, in the cliquey, cold, bottom‑line world of professional baseball, Bouton managed to be both an insider and an outsider all at once.
Bouton defied tremendous odds to make the majors, won two games for the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, and staged an improbable comeback with the Braves as a thirty-nine-year-old. But it was his fateful 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and his resulting insider’s account, Ball Four, that did nothing less than reintroduce America to its national pastime in a lasting, profound way.
In Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, Mitchell Nathanson gives readers a look at Bouton’s remarkable life. He tells the unlikely story of how Bouton’s Ball Four, perhaps the greatest baseball book of all time, came into being, how it was received, and how it forever changed the way we view not only sports books but professional sports as a whole. Based on wide-ranging interviews Nathanson conducted with Bouton, family, friends, and others, he provides an intimate, inside account of Bouton’s life. Nathanson provides insight as to why Bouton saw the world the way he did, why he was so different than the thousands of players who came before him, and how, in the cliquey, cold, bottom‑line world of professional baseball, Bouton managed to be both an insider and an outsider all at once.
407 pages, Hardcover
Published May 1, 2020
49 people are currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Mitchell Nathanson
8 books8 followersMitch Nathanson is a Professor of Law at Villanova University and the author of numerous books and articles on baseball, the law and society. He is a two-time winner of the McFarland-SABR Award, which is presented in recognition of the best historical or biographical baseball articles of the year. His biography of the mercurial slugger Dick Allen: "God Almighty Hisself: The Life and Legacy of Dick Allen," was a finalist for the 2017 Seymour Medal. His current book, BOUTON: The Life of a Baseball Original," explores the life of a man who won all of 62 games but who changed professional sports in ways 300-game winners never could. To which Jim Bouton's Seattle Pilot teammate, Jim Gosger, would most likely say, "Yeah surrre."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
May 24, 2020
If there was one thing that surprised me about this biography it’s how much of a competitor Jim Bouton was. I didn’t get the idea reading Ball Four that he cared all that much about winning. His personal observations about his 1969 season seem too comical to be the workings of a guy who cared much one way or the other. You get the impression that he wanted to be successful to make money. It turns out that he was competitive with everything in life and it costs him some friendships along the way.
I had also always wondered how Jim Bouton came to play the small but pivotal role in the Robert Altman film, The Long Goodbye. On the DVD commentary track Altman says that Dan Blocker (Hoss from Bonanza) was originally cast but he died suddenly before the film was shot. It turned out the film’s star Elliot Gould had met Bouton sometime during the Vietnam War protests.
Mitchell Nathanson admires his subject greatly and the tone of the book reflects this. How he came to write the book and his meeting with Bouton and his wife make up a portion of the story. And yet at the same time he explains how hard it might have been to know the younger Jim Bouton. You can understand why he didn’t have many friends in baseball and how he alienated the ones he did have when he published Ball Four. Thurman Munson hated him for what he wrote about his mentor, Elston Howard, for instance.
I think what I enjoyed most were the locker room stories about the reporters. The older reporters treated the game as something writers protected while the younger ones were more irreverent. The younger ones like Bouton quite a bit. Win or lose he would always speak candidly about the team and his performance.
Nathanson not only tells a good story he's a talented writer and makes the reading a breeze.
.
I had also always wondered how Jim Bouton came to play the small but pivotal role in the Robert Altman film, The Long Goodbye. On the DVD commentary track Altman says that Dan Blocker (Hoss from Bonanza) was originally cast but he died suddenly before the film was shot. It turned out the film’s star Elliot Gould had met Bouton sometime during the Vietnam War protests.
Mitchell Nathanson admires his subject greatly and the tone of the book reflects this. How he came to write the book and his meeting with Bouton and his wife make up a portion of the story. And yet at the same time he explains how hard it might have been to know the younger Jim Bouton. You can understand why he didn’t have many friends in baseball and how he alienated the ones he did have when he published Ball Four. Thurman Munson hated him for what he wrote about his mentor, Elston Howard, for instance.
I think what I enjoyed most were the locker room stories about the reporters. The older reporters treated the game as something writers protected while the younger ones were more irreverent. The younger ones like Bouton quite a bit. Win or lose he would always speak candidly about the team and his performance.
Nathanson not only tells a good story he's a talented writer and makes the reading a breeze.
.
May 22, 2022
In the history of baseball, few men were as important as Jim Bouton. But not for his playing career: he caught on early with the Yankees of Mantle and Maris before coming back down to earth as a journeyman pitcher, chasing his dreams of playing in the major leagues well after his ability to throw high heat had deserted him. No, what makes him so important is the book that he wrote in 1970 which tore off the lid of the closed world of baseball and its players. "Ball Four" was a revolutionary moment in an era full of them, and Bouton's expose continues to hold a high degree of importance in sports history.
"Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original," by Mitchell Nathanson, is a great look at how that book came together, and the price that Bouton and his family paid both for his fame and for his obsession with playing the game he loved so well. Nathanson captures the dynamic, contradictory personality that would both write a tell-all exposing his former and then teammates as real human beings (not the gods that sportswriters of the era portrayed them as) but also want desperately not to be left off a roster come spring training. Bouton emerges from these pages as much more than just the snarky author of the best book about baseball from an insider's perspective; we get a sense of the emotional toil his single-minded pursuit of pitching took on his family. Jim Bouton, so good at telling his life story circa the time of "Ball Four," finally gets the biography worthy of his life's work and life outside of baseball after his book was published.
That being said, there is some issues with the writing at times; the early part dealing with his playing career isn't always the most interesting, but then again Bouton himself covered a lot of that just fine in his own book. There are some issues with use of past or present tense in discussing Bouton in quotes that the author got from his sources (he began the project when Bouton was still alive, so I'll just attribute the issue to that, though I don't know why they weren't addressed before the final product was published). But overall, the book is a fitting tribute to a man whose literary impact off the diamond far outweighed his pitching presence on it. Bouton lived a rich, varied life, with plenty of highs and lows (none so low as the loss of his daughter Laurie in a car accident in 1997, which colored the latter half of Bouton's life).
If you've never read "Ball Four," you should. Then pick up this biography to understand why the book was and continues to be so important.
"Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original," by Mitchell Nathanson, is a great look at how that book came together, and the price that Bouton and his family paid both for his fame and for his obsession with playing the game he loved so well. Nathanson captures the dynamic, contradictory personality that would both write a tell-all exposing his former and then teammates as real human beings (not the gods that sportswriters of the era portrayed them as) but also want desperately not to be left off a roster come spring training. Bouton emerges from these pages as much more than just the snarky author of the best book about baseball from an insider's perspective; we get a sense of the emotional toil his single-minded pursuit of pitching took on his family. Jim Bouton, so good at telling his life story circa the time of "Ball Four," finally gets the biography worthy of his life's work and life outside of baseball after his book was published.
That being said, there is some issues with the writing at times; the early part dealing with his playing career isn't always the most interesting, but then again Bouton himself covered a lot of that just fine in his own book. There are some issues with use of past or present tense in discussing Bouton in quotes that the author got from his sources (he began the project when Bouton was still alive, so I'll just attribute the issue to that, though I don't know why they weren't addressed before the final product was published). But overall, the book is a fitting tribute to a man whose literary impact off the diamond far outweighed his pitching presence on it. Bouton lived a rich, varied life, with plenty of highs and lows (none so low as the loss of his daughter Laurie in a car accident in 1997, which colored the latter half of Bouton's life).
If you've never read "Ball Four," you should. Then pick up this biography to understand why the book was and continues to be so important.
April 23, 2020
When the book “Ball Four” was published in 1970, it shook the baseball world to its core. It was basically a tell-all book, and it wasn’t the first book of its kind as “The Long Season” was a similar book published a decade earlier and “Behind the Mask” also previously released. But given the some of the lurid (for the times) details of the day-to-day life of a ball player, the exposure of just how one-sided contract negotiations were before the days of free agency, and some other secrets exposed, “Ball Four” was so controversial that the commissioner of baseball, Bowie Kuhn, demanded a meeting with the author, pitcher Jim Bouton. This book is a wonderful biography of Bouton by Mitchell Nathanson that shows there is much more to Bouton than just a baseball player.
The reader will learn that early on, while Bouton was a competitive person and loved to play sports, he also wanted to learn other facets of life as well. This isn’t to say he was an outstanding student, but he was a keen observer and liked to acquire knowledge from many different sources, not just textbooks. Something else that is interesting about his early life is that his youth sports experience was ahead of its time as he wanted to devote all his energy to one sport, baseball, instead of multiple sports.
His baseball career is a very interesting section of the book as Nathanson not only talks about his time as a successful pitcher for the Yankees, but also about Bouton’s relationship with pitching coach Johnny Sain. Like so many other pitchers, Sain not only made Bouton a better pitcher but also left a lasting impression. Nathanson even makes talking about Bouton’s quirk of having his hat fall off his head on nearly every pitch seem intriguing.
But injuries and a fastball that wasn’t as fast any longer led to a decline in Bouton’s effectiveness and he ended up with the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969. But that season turned out to be the most important one in Bouton’s life as he took copious notes, recorded many conversations and basically documented nearly everything that happened during his season with the Pilots. Bouton also never got rid of those papers and cassette tapes, storing them in what became the “butter yellow box.” He took those notes and wrote “Ball Four” with the help of sportswriter Leonard Schecter. While it was a hit with many baseball readers, especially younger ones with whom Bouton shared many similar political and cultural beliefs, it caused quite a commotion in the baseball establishment. Not only in the commissioner’s office, but in locker rooms and press boxes all across baseball, “Ball Four” exposed many secrets that weren’t too kind to the game.
While the book was a best seller, it did have effectively blackball Bouton from not only the Yankees, who would not invite him back to the stadium for nearly 30 years, but also from baseball. He did attempt comebacks (this trait is shown time and time again by Nathanson with some wonderful prose) in all levels of the game, which culminated in a short stint on the roster of the Atlanta Braves in 1978, but for all intensive purposes, he struggled with baseball after writing the book.
Of course, the thirst for knowledge outside of baseball kept Bouton busy on other projects, including writing other books. These included follow-ups to “Ball Four” titled “I’m Glad You Didn’t Take It Personally” and “Ball Five”. There was also a book about the town of Pittsfield, Massachusettes when they proposed replacing a very old ballpark with a newer one called “Foul Ball.” While the incentive behind writing that was to expose corruption in the town instead of anything about the game of baseball, Bouton met the same fate as he did with “Ball Four”, namely that he made many new enemies.
Nathanson’s account of these endeavors of Bouton, as well as the sharing of his personal life that resulted in a divorce and subsequent re-marriage that changed him profoundly, make for great reading that will be difficult for a reader to put down. If the reader has ever read “Ball Four”, then this book is one that he or she must add to their library as well as it is a great account of the man behind the legendary book.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The reader will learn that early on, while Bouton was a competitive person and loved to play sports, he also wanted to learn other facets of life as well. This isn’t to say he was an outstanding student, but he was a keen observer and liked to acquire knowledge from many different sources, not just textbooks. Something else that is interesting about his early life is that his youth sports experience was ahead of its time as he wanted to devote all his energy to one sport, baseball, instead of multiple sports.
His baseball career is a very interesting section of the book as Nathanson not only talks about his time as a successful pitcher for the Yankees, but also about Bouton’s relationship with pitching coach Johnny Sain. Like so many other pitchers, Sain not only made Bouton a better pitcher but also left a lasting impression. Nathanson even makes talking about Bouton’s quirk of having his hat fall off his head on nearly every pitch seem intriguing.
But injuries and a fastball that wasn’t as fast any longer led to a decline in Bouton’s effectiveness and he ended up with the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969. But that season turned out to be the most important one in Bouton’s life as he took copious notes, recorded many conversations and basically documented nearly everything that happened during his season with the Pilots. Bouton also never got rid of those papers and cassette tapes, storing them in what became the “butter yellow box.” He took those notes and wrote “Ball Four” with the help of sportswriter Leonard Schecter. While it was a hit with many baseball readers, especially younger ones with whom Bouton shared many similar political and cultural beliefs, it caused quite a commotion in the baseball establishment. Not only in the commissioner’s office, but in locker rooms and press boxes all across baseball, “Ball Four” exposed many secrets that weren’t too kind to the game.
While the book was a best seller, it did have effectively blackball Bouton from not only the Yankees, who would not invite him back to the stadium for nearly 30 years, but also from baseball. He did attempt comebacks (this trait is shown time and time again by Nathanson with some wonderful prose) in all levels of the game, which culminated in a short stint on the roster of the Atlanta Braves in 1978, but for all intensive purposes, he struggled with baseball after writing the book.
Of course, the thirst for knowledge outside of baseball kept Bouton busy on other projects, including writing other books. These included follow-ups to “Ball Four” titled “I’m Glad You Didn’t Take It Personally” and “Ball Five”. There was also a book about the town of Pittsfield, Massachusettes when they proposed replacing a very old ballpark with a newer one called “Foul Ball.” While the incentive behind writing that was to expose corruption in the town instead of anything about the game of baseball, Bouton met the same fate as he did with “Ball Four”, namely that he made many new enemies.
Nathanson’s account of these endeavors of Bouton, as well as the sharing of his personal life that resulted in a divorce and subsequent re-marriage that changed him profoundly, make for great reading that will be difficult for a reader to put down. If the reader has ever read “Ball Four”, then this book is one that he or she must add to their library as well as it is a great account of the man behind the legendary book.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
March 5, 2023
Itryto read at least one baseball book every year during spring training. This year it was this Jim Bouton biography. Bouton penned one of the best baseball books ever, Ball Four. This excellent biography covers pretty much his whole life from baseball to writing to inventing things (he and a partner were responsible for Big League Chew) to being a sports reporter, etc. I enjoyed it because it humanized a very interesting man I. A well written, compelling biography. Also it covered his sad end whereby a vibrant, intellectual, witty man sadly met his end due to his brain breaking down, dementia. How ironic and sad. The book has inspired me to pick up and re-read Ball Four again. Highly recommended.
April 7, 2020
The best books on sport are about far more than sport itself and this wonderful biography is a prime example. it tells the tale of a true baseball maverick, a man far ahead of his time in the mid 60s who would not conform to the norms of behaviour and would always make himself heard.
No more so than in his epic "Ball Four" the first real insider's account of the sport which told to exactly how it was. Its publication made Bouton a pariah but the book lives on. I still have a dogeared copy on my bookshelf from when I borrowed it from a good friend in Manhattan over 35 years ago. Sorry Doug, and no I really do not think you are getting it back anytime soon as I still read it from time to time.
Mitchell Nathanson is an accomplished biographer who had the full support of his subject, sadly no longer with us and he paints a marvellous picture of a true one-off.
The book is a fitting tribute to a gifted polymath whose name and writing will live long after he himself has gone.
No more so than in his epic "Ball Four" the first real insider's account of the sport which told to exactly how it was. Its publication made Bouton a pariah but the book lives on. I still have a dogeared copy on my bookshelf from when I borrowed it from a good friend in Manhattan over 35 years ago. Sorry Doug, and no I really do not think you are getting it back anytime soon as I still read it from time to time.
Mitchell Nathanson is an accomplished biographer who had the full support of his subject, sadly no longer with us and he paints a marvellous picture of a true one-off.
The book is a fitting tribute to a gifted polymath whose name and writing will live long after he himself has gone.
July 22, 2020
Bouton's a supremely interesting guy. But the writing was inconsistent, and the tone was a a bit deferential. Bouton's affairs are compressed into a small section on his divorce, and his repeatedly ruining his family's finances felt glossed over. I'd definitely watch a movie about this guy, though.
May 6, 2020
Jim Bouton is remembered mostly for the book titled “Ball Four” a tell-all book about the goings-on with the life of baseball players away from fans. Mostly he broke the unwritten rule of not speaking out and telling what goes on in the planes, clubhouse, locker room, etc... By the time I read the book, it was years after it was published and he was long gone out of baseball.
Here in this book, you get a good look at the man and his drive, his competitiveness in his childhood that would lead him to a career with the Yankees. It is they’re and the few years that as a starting pitcher that he would shine in the regular season winning twenty-one games in 63 and 18 in 64. Just in those two years, he would throw 520 innings not counting World Series. He pitched in three World Series games and was 2-1 24 innings pitched with an era of 1.48. they would call him the bulldog and he was known for his cap to fly off after every pitch. By the end of 65, you can really say his pitching career was over, his arm was gone and he was going back to working on his knuckleball. From 63 to 65 he pitched 804 innings and then another 24 in the World Series. That would be an average of 268 innings per season. For him I guess it was worth it for when his arm started to bother him, he still continued to pitch, wherein today's game he would have been shut down and they would have found out the issue as soon as the speed of his fastball dropped. I did like the stories he talked about with the old Yankees when he first came up with them and with his first pitching coach Johnny Sain those conversations, I thought were very different than other coaches.
When you get to the part of him writing the book, he had already written some articles for a few magazines and he had a friendship with a few reporters that some other ballplayers did not have. It is a toss-up as to you knew he was writing a book and who did not know but to say the majority of players were mad would be an understatement. He would also be called into the commissioner’s office which did not go well for the commissioner.
The last quarter of the book deals with his later life and his divorce from his first wife and I got the impression that he actually did some of the things he wrote about in his book saying other ballplayers had done on their wives. Which for me was just sad. Overall, I liked this book and was really glad that I read it. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
Here in this book, you get a good look at the man and his drive, his competitiveness in his childhood that would lead him to a career with the Yankees. It is they’re and the few years that as a starting pitcher that he would shine in the regular season winning twenty-one games in 63 and 18 in 64. Just in those two years, he would throw 520 innings not counting World Series. He pitched in three World Series games and was 2-1 24 innings pitched with an era of 1.48. they would call him the bulldog and he was known for his cap to fly off after every pitch. By the end of 65, you can really say his pitching career was over, his arm was gone and he was going back to working on his knuckleball. From 63 to 65 he pitched 804 innings and then another 24 in the World Series. That would be an average of 268 innings per season. For him I guess it was worth it for when his arm started to bother him, he still continued to pitch, wherein today's game he would have been shut down and they would have found out the issue as soon as the speed of his fastball dropped. I did like the stories he talked about with the old Yankees when he first came up with them and with his first pitching coach Johnny Sain those conversations, I thought were very different than other coaches.
When you get to the part of him writing the book, he had already written some articles for a few magazines and he had a friendship with a few reporters that some other ballplayers did not have. It is a toss-up as to you knew he was writing a book and who did not know but to say the majority of players were mad would be an understatement. He would also be called into the commissioner’s office which did not go well for the commissioner.
The last quarter of the book deals with his later life and his divorce from his first wife and I got the impression that he actually did some of the things he wrote about in his book saying other ballplayers had done on their wives. Which for me was just sad. Overall, I liked this book and was really glad that I read it. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com
May 24, 2020
This book is well written and well reserached making it an interesting read. The author brings Bouton to life and tells the story of his complete life and personality rather than the Yankees pitcher who was a major piece in their getting to a couple of World Series in the sixties and his tame by today's standards tell all book "Ball Four." I learned a great deal about the man and his personality and what drove him to success outside of baseball. This is a definite read for any Yankees fan.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.
July 30, 2020
A fine book. Especially since I am not usually big on biographies especially ones of ballplayers. Jim Bouton was a big game pitcher at the end of the Yankee Dynasty. He then became a hanger on and player for the expansion Pilots. In this biography we learn many interesting facts. Jim was possibly the first professional athlete to "Brand" himself. We learn what it takes to become a professional ball player, how he was ultra competitive in everything in life. One interesting side note although he always denied that the time with the Yankees defined him--his own actions which I will not recount here say otherwise. I would give example of everything I say here but I think that you should read the book and find them your self. Mitchell Nathanson did a magnificent job covering one of the truly unique ballplayers of all time.
June 2, 2020
The epilogue [a little self-congratulatory on this point] says it's not a hagiography and that the late Jim Bouton and his wife wouldn't have allowed such an approach, but.......all the same, it's a very positive portrayal of him as smart, free-thinking, rebellious, able to see through the BS in institutions such as Major League Baseball before others could, creative in his business dealings (he was behind "Big League Chew" gum for instance), etc. etc.
Then again, he does go over enough detail on issues such as Bouton's short-lived venture running an old-time "base ball" league [think Civil War re-enactors for 19th century baseball] -- i know i shouldn't be surprised by people anymore at age 58, but i wouldn't have predicted that this seemingly niche interest would be big enough to support multiple rivals who could then get into nasty wars about it] to show, if not tell, that Bouton could be a very difficult, prickly person with whom to work or interact. Perhaps a little selfish as well, depending on how you view cashing in your kids' college funds and moving the family to a smaller house in order to free up funds to give yourself another go at a comeback in the minors (p. 260).
A lot of the story, of course, is about the fallout from Bouton's publication of Ball Four, controversial diary of his time with the Seattle Pilots [pretty sure they were the precursor of the Milwaukee Brewers, not the Mariners] in 1969. I read the book at the time [and now am intrigued to reread it to see what holds up] and shared in the general shock. Definitely ahead of its time, but i'm not sure we should all have been so stunned -- put a big group of high-testosterone young men who have been told all their lives they're the best into a pressure-cooker of public scrutiny and give them a job that takes only a few hours a day but involves lots of travel, and maybe we shouldn't have been amazed by the ensuing infidelity, misogyny, homophobia, substance abuse, general immaturity, etc.
I hate to sound cynical, but if I had wrap my young-adult mind around some uncomfortable facts (Bruce Springsteen was seeing Patti Scialfa even while still married to Julianne Phillips of Lake Oswego, Oregon; Wade Boggs had a "road wife" in Margo Adams for several years but apparently forgot to tell his "home wife"), all you Mickey Mantle fans can get over it too.
It's not on par with the Ball Four revelations, but i did find it amusing to read (pp. 85-86) about Bouton's misadventures with trying to improve his fitness -- "he began doing forty push-ups and fifty sit-ups every day and remade himself physically" -- loses weight but then has a terrible season anyway and concluded "Maybe I exercised so much I tired my arm"
I know baseball is not exactly elite-level cross-country skiing in its conditioning demands, but i do think training theory and practice have progressed some in the past 50 years. Seriously doubt that Stephen Strasburg or Max Scherzer or, um, any professional athlete in their 20's, would be fried by 40 pushups and 50 situps a day as a routine.
Then again, he does go over enough detail on issues such as Bouton's short-lived venture running an old-time "base ball" league [think Civil War re-enactors for 19th century baseball] -- i know i shouldn't be surprised by people anymore at age 58, but i wouldn't have predicted that this seemingly niche interest would be big enough to support multiple rivals who could then get into nasty wars about it] to show, if not tell, that Bouton could be a very difficult, prickly person with whom to work or interact. Perhaps a little selfish as well, depending on how you view cashing in your kids' college funds and moving the family to a smaller house in order to free up funds to give yourself another go at a comeback in the minors (p. 260).
A lot of the story, of course, is about the fallout from Bouton's publication of Ball Four, controversial diary of his time with the Seattle Pilots [pretty sure they were the precursor of the Milwaukee Brewers, not the Mariners] in 1969. I read the book at the time [and now am intrigued to reread it to see what holds up] and shared in the general shock. Definitely ahead of its time, but i'm not sure we should all have been so stunned -- put a big group of high-testosterone young men who have been told all their lives they're the best into a pressure-cooker of public scrutiny and give them a job that takes only a few hours a day but involves lots of travel, and maybe we shouldn't have been amazed by the ensuing infidelity, misogyny, homophobia, substance abuse, general immaturity, etc.
I hate to sound cynical, but if I had wrap my young-adult mind around some uncomfortable facts (Bruce Springsteen was seeing Patti Scialfa even while still married to Julianne Phillips of Lake Oswego, Oregon; Wade Boggs had a "road wife" in Margo Adams for several years but apparently forgot to tell his "home wife"), all you Mickey Mantle fans can get over it too.
It's not on par with the Ball Four revelations, but i did find it amusing to read (pp. 85-86) about Bouton's misadventures with trying to improve his fitness -- "he began doing forty push-ups and fifty sit-ups every day and remade himself physically" -- loses weight but then has a terrible season anyway and concluded "Maybe I exercised so much I tired my arm"
I know baseball is not exactly elite-level cross-country skiing in its conditioning demands, but i do think training theory and practice have progressed some in the past 50 years. Seriously doubt that Stephen Strasburg or Max Scherzer or, um, any professional athlete in their 20's, would be fried by 40 pushups and 50 situps a day as a routine.
May 12, 2020
One of the things I love to do when interviewing authors for my blog on baseball books is to discuss the process: Where did you get your ideas? How did you find a publisher? How difficult was it to deliver your “baby” into the world?
One such book I had always been curious about was BALL FOUR by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter. Originally published in 1970, it has become a perennial favorite, considered the seminal “tell-all” in the sports memoir genre. There have been many imitators over the past 50 years, each trying to outdo the other with lurid tales of sex and drugs; reading it now, some might ask what all the fuss was about. Nevertheless, several sources have included BALL FOUR as one of the most important books --- period --- of the 20th century. So thanks have to go to Mitchell Nathanson for finally bringing this creation story to light.
Bouton was a pitcher who had a couple of good seasons for the New York Yankees at a time when they were on a downward trajectory thanks to diminishing performances from aging stars like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. The Newark-born hurler was part of a new generation, young men who were coming of age in the 1960s, facing the Vietnam War, racial unrest, and a host of other issues that would dominate the decade. You’ll forgive them if they didn’t buy into the whole dewy-eyed view of the national pastime.
In Mantle’s day, rookies were seen and not heard. They kowtowed to the veterans and managers, just grateful to be able to earn a living playing a game.
Not Bouton.
As Nathanson reports in this excellent portrait of an artist as a young, middle-aged and older man, Bouton was in a league all by himself: thoughtful, curious, unwilling to take much at face value or keep his mouth shut. This immediately set him apart from his fellow athletes in the late ’50s and ’60s who looked at him askance, labeling him a flake.
Bouton’s creative side already put him on a track to write a book (as a teenager, he developed an interest in watercolors and jewelry-making). And it is fortunate that he happened to be playing at a time when World, a small publishing company previously known for its books on religion, was looking to build its line of “tell-alls” by athletes, following the success of INSTANT REPLAY by Jerry Kramer, a member of the Green Bay Packers, and Dick Schaap. But they never could have imagined what Bouton would reveal.
In addition to a new, more socially conscious group of athletes, sportswriters were going through a similar change. No longer content with cozying up to management, which often provided them with amenities such as free food and travel, many of this new breed sought different, deeper stories. They were branded “Chipmunks” by the established order. Leonard Shecter was a proud member of this gang. In a way, he was the Bouton of that group, looking to color outside the lines of traditional sports journalism. The publisher sought him out as one of the writers to pair with an athlete, and he leaped at the chance to work with Bouton.
Discussing the procedure with Shecter, they decided that Bouton would take copious notes at the ballpark, on the bus...wherever the mood hit him (he already had been traded to the Houston Astros after several declining seasons with the tailspinning Yankees), put his thoughts on tape and send them to his partner, who would edit and turn it into what eventually would become a game-changer in the world of sports literature.
While he does a fine job with the before-and-after of Bouton’s life on the field, Nathanson is at his best when he goes over the nuts and bolts of how BALL FOUR came to be and the fallout that followed. Plus, he gets extra kudos for giving Shecter the overdue credit he deserved for his part in this watershed literary event.
Despite the publisher’s desire for books of this nature, even they were not prepared for what Bouton was handing out. They tried to kill the project through various means, but Bouton and Shecter stood their ground, threatening legal action. The result, if not the product, must have pleased World as they had to add multiple press runs.
When BALL FOUR hit the stores, Bouton immediately became persona non grata to the baseball community. Ballplayers were outraged that he had broken the “code” by telling tales out of the locker room. Fans were outraged by the unflattering things written about their favorite players. Mantle playing while drunk? Someone else closing the bus window on the hands of kids seeking autographs? Players taking drugs? Bowie Kuhn, then the commissioner of baseball, was similarly outraged by the unfavorable light shed on the national pastime and tried to intimidate Bouton, but that was never going to work.
Then there was the media. The old guard, led by Dick Young of the New York Daily News, was relentless in their criticism on two fronts. First, it was the press’s job to glorify these ballplayers, make them larger than life. Who was this has-been to be putting this poison out there? Second, and perhaps more important, they resented Bouton invading their turf, even if Shecter did collaborate on the project.
Of course, an athlete’s professional life is brief. Looking at his statistics, Bouton’s was over before he turned 32, with an ill-advised attempt at a comeback at the age of 39. But he managed to parlay BALL FOUR into additional opportunities, including several more books that would never be able to recapture the magic --- good or bad, depending on your point of view --- of the original. He tried his hand as a sportscaster on a couple of New York stations, but that maverick personality, at first thought charming, eventually led to his dismissal from those gigs.
Bouton even tried to turn BALL FOUR into a TV show for CBS, but the subject matter --- drugs, sex, etc. --- made it a tough sell for the network, not to mention the censors (compare that to more recent offerings like “Eastbound & Down” and “Brockmire”).
He was never afraid to venture into areas that other people told him were out of his province, including politics. He had a good run with Big League Chew, shredded bubble gum in a pouch that gave kids the chance to emulate their tobacco-chewing idols. Credit Bouton for never giving up, even after the untimely death of his daughter, Laurie, killed in an automobile accident, crushed his spirit.
Bouton passed away last year, a victim of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a disease similar in many ways to Alzheimer’s. It must have been especially frustrating for the erudite gentleman, being unable to finish a thought or bring up a memory.
“Legacy” is a word often overused, but when it comes to BALL FOUR, it is most apt. It was a product of its time, of Bouton’s generation, and for better or worse it opened the door for those who tried to copy the formula but could never be as successful.
Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
One such book I had always been curious about was BALL FOUR by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter. Originally published in 1970, it has become a perennial favorite, considered the seminal “tell-all” in the sports memoir genre. There have been many imitators over the past 50 years, each trying to outdo the other with lurid tales of sex and drugs; reading it now, some might ask what all the fuss was about. Nevertheless, several sources have included BALL FOUR as one of the most important books --- period --- of the 20th century. So thanks have to go to Mitchell Nathanson for finally bringing this creation story to light.
Bouton was a pitcher who had a couple of good seasons for the New York Yankees at a time when they were on a downward trajectory thanks to diminishing performances from aging stars like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. The Newark-born hurler was part of a new generation, young men who were coming of age in the 1960s, facing the Vietnam War, racial unrest, and a host of other issues that would dominate the decade. You’ll forgive them if they didn’t buy into the whole dewy-eyed view of the national pastime.
In Mantle’s day, rookies were seen and not heard. They kowtowed to the veterans and managers, just grateful to be able to earn a living playing a game.
Not Bouton.
As Nathanson reports in this excellent portrait of an artist as a young, middle-aged and older man, Bouton was in a league all by himself: thoughtful, curious, unwilling to take much at face value or keep his mouth shut. This immediately set him apart from his fellow athletes in the late ’50s and ’60s who looked at him askance, labeling him a flake.
Bouton’s creative side already put him on a track to write a book (as a teenager, he developed an interest in watercolors and jewelry-making). And it is fortunate that he happened to be playing at a time when World, a small publishing company previously known for its books on religion, was looking to build its line of “tell-alls” by athletes, following the success of INSTANT REPLAY by Jerry Kramer, a member of the Green Bay Packers, and Dick Schaap. But they never could have imagined what Bouton would reveal.
In addition to a new, more socially conscious group of athletes, sportswriters were going through a similar change. No longer content with cozying up to management, which often provided them with amenities such as free food and travel, many of this new breed sought different, deeper stories. They were branded “Chipmunks” by the established order. Leonard Shecter was a proud member of this gang. In a way, he was the Bouton of that group, looking to color outside the lines of traditional sports journalism. The publisher sought him out as one of the writers to pair with an athlete, and he leaped at the chance to work with Bouton.
Discussing the procedure with Shecter, they decided that Bouton would take copious notes at the ballpark, on the bus...wherever the mood hit him (he already had been traded to the Houston Astros after several declining seasons with the tailspinning Yankees), put his thoughts on tape and send them to his partner, who would edit and turn it into what eventually would become a game-changer in the world of sports literature.
While he does a fine job with the before-and-after of Bouton’s life on the field, Nathanson is at his best when he goes over the nuts and bolts of how BALL FOUR came to be and the fallout that followed. Plus, he gets extra kudos for giving Shecter the overdue credit he deserved for his part in this watershed literary event.
Despite the publisher’s desire for books of this nature, even they were not prepared for what Bouton was handing out. They tried to kill the project through various means, but Bouton and Shecter stood their ground, threatening legal action. The result, if not the product, must have pleased World as they had to add multiple press runs.
When BALL FOUR hit the stores, Bouton immediately became persona non grata to the baseball community. Ballplayers were outraged that he had broken the “code” by telling tales out of the locker room. Fans were outraged by the unflattering things written about their favorite players. Mantle playing while drunk? Someone else closing the bus window on the hands of kids seeking autographs? Players taking drugs? Bowie Kuhn, then the commissioner of baseball, was similarly outraged by the unfavorable light shed on the national pastime and tried to intimidate Bouton, but that was never going to work.
Then there was the media. The old guard, led by Dick Young of the New York Daily News, was relentless in their criticism on two fronts. First, it was the press’s job to glorify these ballplayers, make them larger than life. Who was this has-been to be putting this poison out there? Second, and perhaps more important, they resented Bouton invading their turf, even if Shecter did collaborate on the project.
Of course, an athlete’s professional life is brief. Looking at his statistics, Bouton’s was over before he turned 32, with an ill-advised attempt at a comeback at the age of 39. But he managed to parlay BALL FOUR into additional opportunities, including several more books that would never be able to recapture the magic --- good or bad, depending on your point of view --- of the original. He tried his hand as a sportscaster on a couple of New York stations, but that maverick personality, at first thought charming, eventually led to his dismissal from those gigs.
Bouton even tried to turn BALL FOUR into a TV show for CBS, but the subject matter --- drugs, sex, etc. --- made it a tough sell for the network, not to mention the censors (compare that to more recent offerings like “Eastbound & Down” and “Brockmire”).
He was never afraid to venture into areas that other people told him were out of his province, including politics. He had a good run with Big League Chew, shredded bubble gum in a pouch that gave kids the chance to emulate their tobacco-chewing idols. Credit Bouton for never giving up, even after the untimely death of his daughter, Laurie, killed in an automobile accident, crushed his spirit.
Bouton passed away last year, a victim of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a disease similar in many ways to Alzheimer’s. It must have been especially frustrating for the erudite gentleman, being unable to finish a thought or bring up a memory.
“Legacy” is a word often overused, but when it comes to BALL FOUR, it is most apt. It was a product of its time, of Bouton’s generation, and for better or worse it opened the door for those who tried to copy the formula but could never be as successful.
Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
June 14, 2020
Jim Bouton wrote Ball Four about his 1969 MLB season. I was 12 then, and I was a huge baseball fan.
Ball Four was a breath of fresh air. It brought the average fan into the major league clubhouse, and I was mesmerized. I remember the book like I read it yesterday. Bouton had a couple of good years with the Yankees. He hurt his arm, and he transformed himself into a knuckleball pitcher, but he was never that good. He hung on in the big leagues for a few more years, and then he retired. In fact, he retired multiple times. Sorry to say, while the book Ball Four was great, Bouton the person is not that interesting. The biography describes a narcissistic, selfish man. After his baseball skills were mostly gone, he traveled around the country with his wife and children chasing the dream of returning to the big leagues. He dragged his family to the west coast and even Mexico over and over again. He wasn't making any money, and after awhile he tossed his wife overboard. Even Ted Turner got involved at one point, and Bouton actually pitched a few games for the Braves in the 1970's. What is interesting and disturbing about this book is that his children are barely mentioned. In one instance, the author reports that his children had a difficult childhood. They obviously did not contribute to this book and after reading about their dysfunctional father, I can understand. Don't waste your time on this book, but I highly recommend Ball Four.
Ball Four was a breath of fresh air. It brought the average fan into the major league clubhouse, and I was mesmerized. I remember the book like I read it yesterday. Bouton had a couple of good years with the Yankees. He hurt his arm, and he transformed himself into a knuckleball pitcher, but he was never that good. He hung on in the big leagues for a few more years, and then he retired. In fact, he retired multiple times. Sorry to say, while the book Ball Four was great, Bouton the person is not that interesting. The biography describes a narcissistic, selfish man. After his baseball skills were mostly gone, he traveled around the country with his wife and children chasing the dream of returning to the big leagues. He dragged his family to the west coast and even Mexico over and over again. He wasn't making any money, and after awhile he tossed his wife overboard. Even Ted Turner got involved at one point, and Bouton actually pitched a few games for the Braves in the 1970's. What is interesting and disturbing about this book is that his children are barely mentioned. In one instance, the author reports that his children had a difficult childhood. They obviously did not contribute to this book and after reading about their dysfunctional father, I can understand. Don't waste your time on this book, but I highly recommend Ball Four.
April 7, 2023
Maybe the three-star rating is based on my preconception that this would be more of a biography about Jim Bouton. I first read Ball Four when I was 12 and it's the most repeatedly-read book that I own. I never tire of it, despite it being more than 50 years old.
I was expecting more of a biography about Bouton. I wanted to know about his childhood and his college career and how he did with the New York Yankees early in his career. Instead, this glossed over a lot of stuff. For example, when he was traded to the Seattle Pilots before the 1969 season, which was the catalyst for his book, it merely merited about two or three paragraphs. I learned more about him from Ball Four than this.
That said, there are parts that were worth the read. We all know the reaction over the publishing of Ball Four and his becoming even more of an outcast. If you're a Bouton fan, you remember the All-Star game in 1998 in New York and how the death of his daughter, Laurie, inspired an invitation to the game.
Nathanson does a good job of telling us more about Bouton in his later years. He was a constant inventor, although most of his ideas fell flat. And I do remember his television show "Ball Four" and how it was pulled off air after only a few weeks because it was so bad.
Nathanson begins the book in a fanboy attitude. Bouton is a rare bird, college educated and a vast thinker in a baseball world where that may be frowned upon. Bouton great. Everyone else dumb. There are parts that seem almost editorializing in his love for the guy.
Then, in the last third, it turns. Bouton is seen more as an egotistical person, a highly competitive man who wants his way. He throws away his life savings to pursue his half-assed dream of returning to the big leagues, making his family suffer along the way, including a trip to Mexico to pitch in that league.
The ending is very sad and details the disease that eventually led to his death. It's one of those ironies of humanity. A very intellectual thinker is robbed of his mind at the end.
And on a sidenote: There is one huge glaring error in the book. The famous 1964 Phil Linz harmonica incident is noted. In that, Linz and the Yankees were on a team bus headed to O'Hare in Chicago in August. The team had lost and players and coaches were upset. Linz began playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," enraging coach Yogi Berra who told him to quit. Linz, the story says, claimed he didn't hear Berra and asked what he said. Here's where the story turns. All other accounts I've read... Golenbock's book "Dynasty," other Yankee biographies and even Bouton's book itself... says Mantle told Linz that Berra told him to play it louder. A fight ensued and it apparently sparked the Yankees, which ended up winning the American League pennant. Nathanson recounts that tale, but says Bouton told Linz to play rather than Mantle.
Anyway, if you're looking for a biography on Bouton, I guess read Ball Four. It ain't in this book. If you're looking for a well-written book on the culture that ensued after Ball Four was published and a brief look at how Bouton ended up, then read this one.
I was expecting more of a biography about Bouton. I wanted to know about his childhood and his college career and how he did with the New York Yankees early in his career. Instead, this glossed over a lot of stuff. For example, when he was traded to the Seattle Pilots before the 1969 season, which was the catalyst for his book, it merely merited about two or three paragraphs. I learned more about him from Ball Four than this.
That said, there are parts that were worth the read. We all know the reaction over the publishing of Ball Four and his becoming even more of an outcast. If you're a Bouton fan, you remember the All-Star game in 1998 in New York and how the death of his daughter, Laurie, inspired an invitation to the game.
Nathanson does a good job of telling us more about Bouton in his later years. He was a constant inventor, although most of his ideas fell flat. And I do remember his television show "Ball Four" and how it was pulled off air after only a few weeks because it was so bad.
Nathanson begins the book in a fanboy attitude. Bouton is a rare bird, college educated and a vast thinker in a baseball world where that may be frowned upon. Bouton great. Everyone else dumb. There are parts that seem almost editorializing in his love for the guy.
Then, in the last third, it turns. Bouton is seen more as an egotistical person, a highly competitive man who wants his way. He throws away his life savings to pursue his half-assed dream of returning to the big leagues, making his family suffer along the way, including a trip to Mexico to pitch in that league.
The ending is very sad and details the disease that eventually led to his death. It's one of those ironies of humanity. A very intellectual thinker is robbed of his mind at the end.
And on a sidenote: There is one huge glaring error in the book. The famous 1964 Phil Linz harmonica incident is noted. In that, Linz and the Yankees were on a team bus headed to O'Hare in Chicago in August. The team had lost and players and coaches were upset. Linz began playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," enraging coach Yogi Berra who told him to quit. Linz, the story says, claimed he didn't hear Berra and asked what he said. Here's where the story turns. All other accounts I've read... Golenbock's book "Dynasty," other Yankee biographies and even Bouton's book itself... says Mantle told Linz that Berra told him to play it louder. A fight ensued and it apparently sparked the Yankees, which ended up winning the American League pennant. Nathanson recounts that tale, but says Bouton told Linz to play rather than Mantle.
Anyway, if you're looking for a biography on Bouton, I guess read Ball Four. It ain't in this book. If you're looking for a well-written book on the culture that ensued after Ball Four was published and a brief look at how Bouton ended up, then read this one.
July 8, 2020
Any list of the most consequential baseball players not in the Hall of Fame has to include Jim Bouton. Now, Bouton finally has a biography befitting his influence in Mitchell Nathanson's wonderful Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original.
Nathanson seeks to present a full-scale, warts and all biography of Bouton, and was in fact encouraged in that direction by the subject himself. He delivers in spectacular fashion.
While Bouton was best known as the author of the seminal tell-all about the 1969 season, Ball Four, he was much more than a memoirist. The book follows Bouton from his early days in New Jersey and Illinois, to Western Michigan University, and on into professional baseball. The story continues as Bouton breaks in to the major leagues and contributes to the pennant-winning New York Yankee teams of the early 1960s. Arm trouble that Bouton was unable to shake led to his move away from the Yankees and finishing out his career with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros.
Of course, there was also Ball Four. The book broke all of the rules formerly observed by sports titles- it was honest and told secrets while paying no heed to the aw shucks, just glad to play the game pablum that was standard at the time. Ball Four made ballplayers human- insecure and crass, funny and prickly, motivated by money, and sex, and greed. Bouton named names, slayed sacred cows, and introduced phrases that fans of baseball history recognize to this day, including "smoke 'em inside" and "pound the Budweiser."
While the public loved the book, those inside the game of baseball did not. An enduring question is whether Ball Four pushed Bouton to the game's outer edges, or if Bouton existed on the game's outer edges and thus felt the freedom to write a book like Ball Four. Reading of his life and personality, the reader is left with the impression that if Bouton couldn't find a few cages to rattle wherever he went, then why even bother?
Ball Four may be the crown jewel of Bouton's public life, but it wasn't the end of the story. Nathanson does admirable work detailing his other ventures, from his time on the news desk of local New York television to his creation of a popular sports themed candy.
Nathanson has done his research, using extensive interviews he did with his subject and many other around him. He also found plenty more in the archives to strengthen his narrative and ably tell the story in enjoyable prose.
All baseball fans will enjoy Bouton and learn much along the way.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Nathanson seeks to present a full-scale, warts and all biography of Bouton, and was in fact encouraged in that direction by the subject himself. He delivers in spectacular fashion.
While Bouton was best known as the author of the seminal tell-all about the 1969 season, Ball Four, he was much more than a memoirist. The book follows Bouton from his early days in New Jersey and Illinois, to Western Michigan University, and on into professional baseball. The story continues as Bouton breaks in to the major leagues and contributes to the pennant-winning New York Yankee teams of the early 1960s. Arm trouble that Bouton was unable to shake led to his move away from the Yankees and finishing out his career with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros.
Of course, there was also Ball Four. The book broke all of the rules formerly observed by sports titles- it was honest and told secrets while paying no heed to the aw shucks, just glad to play the game pablum that was standard at the time. Ball Four made ballplayers human- insecure and crass, funny and prickly, motivated by money, and sex, and greed. Bouton named names, slayed sacred cows, and introduced phrases that fans of baseball history recognize to this day, including "smoke 'em inside" and "pound the Budweiser."
While the public loved the book, those inside the game of baseball did not. An enduring question is whether Ball Four pushed Bouton to the game's outer edges, or if Bouton existed on the game's outer edges and thus felt the freedom to write a book like Ball Four. Reading of his life and personality, the reader is left with the impression that if Bouton couldn't find a few cages to rattle wherever he went, then why even bother?
Ball Four may be the crown jewel of Bouton's public life, but it wasn't the end of the story. Nathanson does admirable work detailing his other ventures, from his time on the news desk of local New York television to his creation of a popular sports themed candy.
Nathanson has done his research, using extensive interviews he did with his subject and many other around him. He also found plenty more in the archives to strengthen his narrative and ably tell the story in enjoyable prose.
All baseball fans will enjoy Bouton and learn much along the way.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 23, 2023
I had meant to read Ball Four for years, but other books I owned seemed more important than one about baseball. When I finally did read it recently, I reprimanded myself for taking such a superior attitude, because Ball Four is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Virtually every line is funny, and it is filled with a high dose of humanity. It also celebrates the underdog. Upon finishing it, I couldn’t wait to read this biography to find out more about this fascinating man. And Nathanson did his subject justice, as he goes over Bouton’s life from beginning to end with honesty. What helped the book to be so interesting is that Bouton led a life filled with fascinating choices, and throughout he constantly stood up for the underdog, whilst challenging the establishment, even when it ended up hurting himself.
Unlike most future major leaguers, who are worshipped as athletes since the third grade, Bouton had to fight just to get a chance to pitch on his high school team. Throughout his Big-League career, he was always seen by his teammates as an outsider. Post baseball, he strangely went on to star as Terry Lennox in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye and became a sportscaster in New York City for Eyewitness News, before then making a comeback to major league baseball in the late 70’s. Nobody would give him a chance except for Ted Turner, owner of the Atlanta Braves. He went on with a former minor league teammate Rob Nelson to invent Big League Chew, a bubblegum that I was most proud to pack in my cheek for many years as a little leaguer. Bouton later wrote another tell all about his effort to save Wahconah ballpark in Pittsfield, MA called Foul Ball. The book turned out to be so controversial that Bouton had to self-publish it himself. I can’t wait to read it.
Immense heartbreak leveled Bouton when his 31-year-old daughter, and spitting image of himself, Laurie, was killed in a car accident. He could barely stand up for a while after that. It was also sad to read of the hardships he endured the last decade of his life battling dementia. Some of my favorite parts of Ball Four are when Bouton writes about his wife and kids. Outside of the details surrounding Laurie’s death, and how his son Michael wrote a letter to the Yankees asking them to invite his dad back for the Old Timer’s Game, there’s not a whole lot about them. I would have been interested to learn more about Bouton’s relationship with them. But even with that minor complaint, this is a fun read about a very interesting man.
Unlike most future major leaguers, who are worshipped as athletes since the third grade, Bouton had to fight just to get a chance to pitch on his high school team. Throughout his Big-League career, he was always seen by his teammates as an outsider. Post baseball, he strangely went on to star as Terry Lennox in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye and became a sportscaster in New York City for Eyewitness News, before then making a comeback to major league baseball in the late 70’s. Nobody would give him a chance except for Ted Turner, owner of the Atlanta Braves. He went on with a former minor league teammate Rob Nelson to invent Big League Chew, a bubblegum that I was most proud to pack in my cheek for many years as a little leaguer. Bouton later wrote another tell all about his effort to save Wahconah ballpark in Pittsfield, MA called Foul Ball. The book turned out to be so controversial that Bouton had to self-publish it himself. I can’t wait to read it.
Immense heartbreak leveled Bouton when his 31-year-old daughter, and spitting image of himself, Laurie, was killed in a car accident. He could barely stand up for a while after that. It was also sad to read of the hardships he endured the last decade of his life battling dementia. Some of my favorite parts of Ball Four are when Bouton writes about his wife and kids. Outside of the details surrounding Laurie’s death, and how his son Michael wrote a letter to the Yankees asking them to invite his dad back for the Old Timer’s Game, there’s not a whole lot about them. I would have been interested to learn more about Bouton’s relationship with them. But even with that minor complaint, this is a fun read about a very interesting man.
May 26, 2021
Few books captured the Woodstock-era’s zeitgeist better than Jim Bouton’s Ball Four. The 1970 book was a snarky, anti-authoritarian best seller. Even better, it shined a light on the largely-unseen private lives of baseball’s stars. I read Ball Four back in the late-1980s and loved it.
So, I really looked forward to Mitchell Nathanson’s biography of Bouton. My library provided online access to the audio version of the book and I eagerly checked it out. After listening, my feelings are somewhat mixed.
Nathanson does well at discussing Ball Four’s outsized cultural impact. Also, he explains why it remains a special book (largely due to the collaboration of Bouton and sportswriter Leonard Schecter). The sections on how Ball Four came to be and why it matters make Nathanson’s book worthwhile.
But Nathanson is too much a fan; he cannot provide a sufficiently-critical eye to Ball Four or to Bouton the man. After Ball Four, Bouton found that he loved the spotlight and struggled to remain relevant after his 15 minutes were up. Nathanson never addresses the narcissism that seemed to drive Bouton to pursue his desires at the expense of others.
One of the most-interesting aspects of Bouton’s later life was his baseball comeback when he made it back to the majors for a month in 1978. But, at the conclusion of the 1978 season, Bouton walked away again just as he seemed to have gotten what he wanted. Bouton never gave a convincing explanation of his behavior and Nathanson sheds no light on this strange turn of events, either.
Along the way, Bouton “blew up” his first marriage. Nathanson has little to say about Bouton’s conduct in that marriage, even though his first wife wrote a book about Jim. Likewise, the three children from that first marriage receive insufficient attention in Nathanson’s book.
Also, the proportions of Nathanson’s book are off. He devotes too much attention to Bouton’s humdrum life after Ball Four. The reader learns about how Bouton’s inability to work with others blew up his campaign to save an old ballpark and failed to establish a baseball league that played by historic rules. This material is mildly interesting, but merely confirms that Bouton’s life after Ball Four was somewhat pedestrian.
I still like Ball Four and I liked Nathanson’s book. But I can’t give the latter more than a middling rating.
So, I really looked forward to Mitchell Nathanson’s biography of Bouton. My library provided online access to the audio version of the book and I eagerly checked it out. After listening, my feelings are somewhat mixed.
Nathanson does well at discussing Ball Four’s outsized cultural impact. Also, he explains why it remains a special book (largely due to the collaboration of Bouton and sportswriter Leonard Schecter). The sections on how Ball Four came to be and why it matters make Nathanson’s book worthwhile.
But Nathanson is too much a fan; he cannot provide a sufficiently-critical eye to Ball Four or to Bouton the man. After Ball Four, Bouton found that he loved the spotlight and struggled to remain relevant after his 15 minutes were up. Nathanson never addresses the narcissism that seemed to drive Bouton to pursue his desires at the expense of others.
One of the most-interesting aspects of Bouton’s later life was his baseball comeback when he made it back to the majors for a month in 1978. But, at the conclusion of the 1978 season, Bouton walked away again just as he seemed to have gotten what he wanted. Bouton never gave a convincing explanation of his behavior and Nathanson sheds no light on this strange turn of events, either.
Along the way, Bouton “blew up” his first marriage. Nathanson has little to say about Bouton’s conduct in that marriage, even though his first wife wrote a book about Jim. Likewise, the three children from that first marriage receive insufficient attention in Nathanson’s book.
Also, the proportions of Nathanson’s book are off. He devotes too much attention to Bouton’s humdrum life after Ball Four. The reader learns about how Bouton’s inability to work with others blew up his campaign to save an old ballpark and failed to establish a baseball league that played by historic rules. This material is mildly interesting, but merely confirms that Bouton’s life after Ball Four was somewhat pedestrian.
I still like Ball Four and I liked Nathanson’s book. But I can’t give the latter more than a middling rating.
May 9, 2020
I first read Ball Four in the summer when I was 11 years old, which was 40 years ago as I type this. My best friend stole his big brother's copy, and we devoured it over the months of June, July, and August. When I was 11, I deeply loved baseball, but Jim Bouton's book made me love the game more than I can possibly express. While Ball Four was filled with bad words, bad behavior, and the kind of joking that went straight to the heart of the kid I was, it also taught me lessons about being observant and present in my life, loving my friends and family, appreciating all that I have, and respecting other people's points of view, and the integrity of who they were as human beings.
After finishing Ball Four, I began devouring everything I could get my hands on to read. Not just baseball books, mind you, but also books on politics, novels, poetry, you name it. I found myself looking at baseball players as human beings, as opposed to gods, and I found I loved the game more than ever. I don't know how to thank Jim Bouton for showing me how fun reading could be, but I owe him a huge debt.
In 1996, I was working as a line cook in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Jim Bouton came on the radio as a guest on the Vox Pop radio show. I took my lunch break and called in to the program to ask him a question about a baseball book he might recommend. Bouton was kind and thoughtful in his response, and he hipped me to Pat Jordan's A False Spring.
In Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, Mitchell Nathanson creates a fluid narrative and crafts an inviting and very honest lens through which to view Jim Bouton's life, illuminating along the way the surprising and seminal experiences that led Jim Bouton to being such a true sui generis, and making this reader, who never had the pleasure of meeting the man, feel as though he had a better window into what made him tick. Not only is this a definitive biography, it's a wonderfully written one and the storytelling demonstrated on these pages makes me eager to pick up Nathanson's book on Dick Allen next. I highly recommend this book.
After finishing Ball Four, I began devouring everything I could get my hands on to read. Not just baseball books, mind you, but also books on politics, novels, poetry, you name it. I found myself looking at baseball players as human beings, as opposed to gods, and I found I loved the game more than ever. I don't know how to thank Jim Bouton for showing me how fun reading could be, but I owe him a huge debt.
In 1996, I was working as a line cook in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Jim Bouton came on the radio as a guest on the Vox Pop radio show. I took my lunch break and called in to the program to ask him a question about a baseball book he might recommend. Bouton was kind and thoughtful in his response, and he hipped me to Pat Jordan's A False Spring.
In Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, Mitchell Nathanson creates a fluid narrative and crafts an inviting and very honest lens through which to view Jim Bouton's life, illuminating along the way the surprising and seminal experiences that led Jim Bouton to being such a true sui generis, and making this reader, who never had the pleasure of meeting the man, feel as though he had a better window into what made him tick. Not only is this a definitive biography, it's a wonderfully written one and the storytelling demonstrated on these pages makes me eager to pick up Nathanson's book on Dick Allen next. I highly recommend this book.
December 7, 2020
That someone has put together a 365 page biography of Jim Bouton at first seemed unlikely, but then the Library of Congress has acquired his papers as a manuscript collection. His authoring "Ball Four" is a significant milestone in the history of baseball.
The book takes the usual chronological approach, dividing his life up into three parts - the Bulldog (the predominantly baseball phase; Bulldog was a nickname), the author (most famously of "Ball Four" but other things as well) and finally the iconoclast.
I can imagine some readers would get through the first two sections and skip the last section but I was interested in understanding Bouton's life more fully. Certainly the first two sections are what most people are more familiar with and since they are directly related to major league baseball, which is the subject most are interested in when attracted to Bouton (or so I imagine).
One thing the book does _not_ do is recreate the narrative of "Ball Four." Or to put it differently, to understand what is in "Ball Four" you need to read "Ball Four." This raises a different question, which is whether someone would enjoy reading this not having read "Ball Four." I don't think so.
The author Nathanson discusses at length the authorship of "Ball Four." Jim Bouton was described as the author but he worked closely with a then-sports journalist Len Schecter, who was described as the editor. Nathanson considers it indisputable that Bouton was the author although at the time the book was written some doubted this since he had never written anything that was published before. However while Schecter clearly assured a well-organized and better final product, Bouton's conversational and engaging style in relating stories from his baseball career is clearly his own.
The book takes the usual chronological approach, dividing his life up into three parts - the Bulldog (the predominantly baseball phase; Bulldog was a nickname), the author (most famously of "Ball Four" but other things as well) and finally the iconoclast.
I can imagine some readers would get through the first two sections and skip the last section but I was interested in understanding Bouton's life more fully. Certainly the first two sections are what most people are more familiar with and since they are directly related to major league baseball, which is the subject most are interested in when attracted to Bouton (or so I imagine).
One thing the book does _not_ do is recreate the narrative of "Ball Four." Or to put it differently, to understand what is in "Ball Four" you need to read "Ball Four." This raises a different question, which is whether someone would enjoy reading this not having read "Ball Four." I don't think so.
The author Nathanson discusses at length the authorship of "Ball Four." Jim Bouton was described as the author but he worked closely with a then-sports journalist Len Schecter, who was described as the editor. Nathanson considers it indisputable that Bouton was the author although at the time the book was written some doubted this since he had never written anything that was published before. However while Schecter clearly assured a well-organized and better final product, Bouton's conversational and engaging style in relating stories from his baseball career is clearly his own.
March 8, 2021
Is it really even fair to ask me for a review when I just wrapped this book up and jammed it back on the shelf a few hours ago? Now, while the crusty salt rests fresh on my cheeks? Damn you Goodreads, gimme a few days to process, won’t ya?
My rating finger was poised to click a 3, maybe even a 2. Until the last couple chapters. I mean, Jim Bouton is an icon and he sat for nearly fifty years in my head as this guy who, if I ever had the balls to just call him up, which I didn’t but if I did, he would just kick back and talk ball and life and protests and causes all day long, a guy so grounded that he’d even appreciate a former Little Leaguer who never made it past first base, literally, at age 11 the year Jim wrote Ball Four, anyway that he’d just take it all in and say something smart and full of wisdom and thanks and have a nice day.
But the book talks of his failings, his weaknesses, his ego. It tells of his broken relationships with writers and business partners. It even reveals how that all played together to leave some believing he was dishonest and out for himself, screw the trail he left behind.
In other words, this book turns a god into a human. And between my broken idolatry and the sometimes plodding prose, I was ready to toss this book in the pile of disappointments along with a handful of others that have broken my heart with their honesty.
Then this morning I took in the last few chapters. Was I getting a cold? The sniffles hit me first. There may have been a sneeze. And by the time I went for the Kleenex there were rivers on my face. The humanity, the depression and fears faced by the bulletproof Bulldog, weary of mind and body in his last days... and that final grip of the baseball. The scene was painted so perfectly.
Thank you. An amazing read.
My rating finger was poised to click a 3, maybe even a 2. Until the last couple chapters. I mean, Jim Bouton is an icon and he sat for nearly fifty years in my head as this guy who, if I ever had the balls to just call him up, which I didn’t but if I did, he would just kick back and talk ball and life and protests and causes all day long, a guy so grounded that he’d even appreciate a former Little Leaguer who never made it past first base, literally, at age 11 the year Jim wrote Ball Four, anyway that he’d just take it all in and say something smart and full of wisdom and thanks and have a nice day.
But the book talks of his failings, his weaknesses, his ego. It tells of his broken relationships with writers and business partners. It even reveals how that all played together to leave some believing he was dishonest and out for himself, screw the trail he left behind.
In other words, this book turns a god into a human. And between my broken idolatry and the sometimes plodding prose, I was ready to toss this book in the pile of disappointments along with a handful of others that have broken my heart with their honesty.
Then this morning I took in the last few chapters. Was I getting a cold? The sniffles hit me first. There may have been a sneeze. And by the time I went for the Kleenex there were rivers on my face. The humanity, the depression and fears faced by the bulletproof Bulldog, weary of mind and body in his last days... and that final grip of the baseball. The scene was painted so perfectly.
Thank you. An amazing read.
July 12, 2020
I don't quite know how to review this book, because there were so many angles to it for me. I grew up reading biographies of professional athletes from this era, and it was those books that made me a voracious reader, a voracious sports fan, and also represented my youth in a world where sports (and especially baseball) meant everything to me. Thus reading it evoked a lot of interesting, sometimes contradictory, emotions for me. Bouton was a part of the era of my "innocent" youth, although Bouton was all about revealing the lack of innocence of the era and definitely no saint himself. I can't say I had a particular opinion when Ball Four came out. It was another book to add to my baseball book repertoire, and I was probably too young at the time to understand the full contradiction between my view of baseball players as heroes and the real lives that they lived.
Now, of course, all the bubbles have been burst in my life and I am well aware that everything in life is a contradiction at best. Bouton, personally, wound up being the guy I've often seen so many times in my life: sometimes difficult, sometimes abrasive, often self-destructively individualistic, unable to take good advice ... and, in the end, somewhat guided (and contained) by a partner who was devoted to him. But even that description occupies a special place in my heart and reminds me of the life I've lived that no longer exists.
It really was a nice piece of writing, even for those who aren't baseball fans. For those who were baseball fans during the 1960s and 1970s, the book will have special meaning.
Now, of course, all the bubbles have been burst in my life and I am well aware that everything in life is a contradiction at best. Bouton, personally, wound up being the guy I've often seen so many times in my life: sometimes difficult, sometimes abrasive, often self-destructively individualistic, unable to take good advice ... and, in the end, somewhat guided (and contained) by a partner who was devoted to him. But even that description occupies a special place in my heart and reminds me of the life I've lived that no longer exists.
It really was a nice piece of writing, even for those who aren't baseball fans. For those who were baseball fans during the 1960s and 1970s, the book will have special meaning.
October 16, 2021
A love letter, not a biography
Jim Bouton, among the first athletes to expose the truth about professional sports - the greed, the immaturity and the egos, is certainly a worthy subject for a biography.
This isn’t a biography, it’s a love letter. Or, more accurately, given the author’s day job as a law professor, it’s an argument on behalf of a client. To the author’s credit, you do get a sense that Bouton was something of an egotistical, monomaniacal jerk (quitting his job as a sportscaster to follow his dream of pitching again, even as he had four kids to support, comes to mind). But even that’s painted as just who he was. Bouton certainly went after targets that deserved it - Bowie Kuhn and the corrupt government in Pittsfield, and his prickly personality was likely necessary in those situations. The author rightfully presents him as the lone man going up against the establishment. However, Nathanson presents everyone Bouton fought as equally humorless and deserving of his nastiness (the Vintage Base Ball Association, an organization of amateur base ball enthusiasts gets that treatment, and his former teammates are painted negatively because, g-d forbid, they didn’t want to participate in an addendum to “Ball Four.”). And Bouton’s treatment of his first wife and family is sloughed off, as he outgrew her and his family was wrong. I don’t know if he tried to interview them about it and they refused, or if it just didn’t fit his brief, but it’s a rather big omission.
In the end, it’s not a bad book, but the author of “Ball Four” would’ve rolled his eyes if someone wrote this way about another player.
Jim Bouton, among the first athletes to expose the truth about professional sports - the greed, the immaturity and the egos, is certainly a worthy subject for a biography.
This isn’t a biography, it’s a love letter. Or, more accurately, given the author’s day job as a law professor, it’s an argument on behalf of a client. To the author’s credit, you do get a sense that Bouton was something of an egotistical, monomaniacal jerk (quitting his job as a sportscaster to follow his dream of pitching again, even as he had four kids to support, comes to mind). But even that’s painted as just who he was. Bouton certainly went after targets that deserved it - Bowie Kuhn and the corrupt government in Pittsfield, and his prickly personality was likely necessary in those situations. The author rightfully presents him as the lone man going up against the establishment. However, Nathanson presents everyone Bouton fought as equally humorless and deserving of his nastiness (the Vintage Base Ball Association, an organization of amateur base ball enthusiasts gets that treatment, and his former teammates are painted negatively because, g-d forbid, they didn’t want to participate in an addendum to “Ball Four.”). And Bouton’s treatment of his first wife and family is sloughed off, as he outgrew her and his family was wrong. I don’t know if he tried to interview them about it and they refused, or if it just didn’t fit his brief, but it’s a rather big omission.
In the end, it’s not a bad book, but the author of “Ball Four” would’ve rolled his eyes if someone wrote this way about another player.
May 15, 2020
I love well-written biographies. I love learning about interesting people.
So I love biographies about interesting people. “Bouton” by Mitchell Nathanson, is both well-written and its subject very interesting. So, despite unease about the tone of the biography, I strongly recommend this book for readers whether one is a sports fan or not. The life and personal story of Jim Bouton follows the story of a (short-time) New York Yankee pitchers in the early 1960’s before quickly descending into the life of a “has-been” washed-up ball player traveling down the road of failure. Yet Bouton’s flash of stardom led to a successful career in the emerging world of “happy talk” local news and sports before moving into political activism, book-writing, and questionable personal lifestyle choices. This is a “five-star” read that still left me unsettled by its sympathetic tone of the writer to his subject. If Nathanson is to be believed, Bouton was darn-near a Mensa candidate due to his ability to come up with one genius idea after another. Even Bouton’s business failures were due to his being too far ahead of the rest of us and thus a victim of being prescient, not stupid. Even Bouton’s attempt to bring his best-selling book “Ball Four” to weekly television was the fault of everybody else associated to the project—if only they had all listened to Bouton!
Except for that complaint I found the book engrossing and couldn’t a it to turn the page to follow Bouton’s life journey. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read an advanced copy of “Bouton.”
So I love biographies about interesting people. “Bouton” by Mitchell Nathanson, is both well-written and its subject very interesting. So, despite unease about the tone of the biography, I strongly recommend this book for readers whether one is a sports fan or not. The life and personal story of Jim Bouton follows the story of a (short-time) New York Yankee pitchers in the early 1960’s before quickly descending into the life of a “has-been” washed-up ball player traveling down the road of failure. Yet Bouton’s flash of stardom led to a successful career in the emerging world of “happy talk” local news and sports before moving into political activism, book-writing, and questionable personal lifestyle choices. This is a “five-star” read that still left me unsettled by its sympathetic tone of the writer to his subject. If Nathanson is to be believed, Bouton was darn-near a Mensa candidate due to his ability to come up with one genius idea after another. Even Bouton’s business failures were due to his being too far ahead of the rest of us and thus a victim of being prescient, not stupid. Even Bouton’s attempt to bring his best-selling book “Ball Four” to weekly television was the fault of everybody else associated to the project—if only they had all listened to Bouton!
Except for that complaint I found the book engrossing and couldn’t a it to turn the page to follow Bouton’s life journey. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read an advanced copy of “Bouton.”
June 1, 2020
Jim Bouton was one of baseball's great characters. His tell-all book about the 1969 season, Ball Four, forever changed the way that the public viewed athletes. For those of us who view that work as a near-sacred text, Bouton was always interesting, but hard to pin down. He helped bring about Big League Chew bubble gum, got involved in promotion of 19th century-style baseball, co-wrote a novel, and so it went.
Nathanson's book was one that excited me when I first learned it was being written-- which is usually the curse of death. When I hear about a great idea, the execution often doesn't live up to my expectations. But Bouton did live up to it. Nathanson obviously did his homework, and fairly and accurately chronicles the many twists and turns of Bouton's life, a fair number of which were new to me. His style is light enough to be readable, but serious enough to avoid any note of condescension. Bouton was a complicated man-- but this is an important analysis of his life and legacy, warts and all. If you're part of the generation that loves Ball Four, Bouton is a great companion piece-- the forest of which Ball Four represents one tree. One of the best biographies I've read in some time. Highly recommended.
Nathanson's book was one that excited me when I first learned it was being written-- which is usually the curse of death. When I hear about a great idea, the execution often doesn't live up to my expectations. But Bouton did live up to it. Nathanson obviously did his homework, and fairly and accurately chronicles the many twists and turns of Bouton's life, a fair number of which were new to me. His style is light enough to be readable, but serious enough to avoid any note of condescension. Bouton was a complicated man-- but this is an important analysis of his life and legacy, warts and all. If you're part of the generation that loves Ball Four, Bouton is a great companion piece-- the forest of which Ball Four represents one tree. One of the best biographies I've read in some time. Highly recommended.
October 26, 2020
This is an excellent biography of one of the more interesting players in major league history. I remember reading Ball Four once evening in study hall in high school. I laughed out loud so many times that I was asigned more study halls as punishment. But it was totally worth it.
While Ball Four is the linchpin of Bouton's career. Nathanson digs well past that book to explore Bouton's upbringing and early career, his success with the Yankees, and the circumstances that led to Bouton writing the book. This biography then looks at the impact it had, and still has, not just on Bouton but on all of baseball.
Jim Bouton was a character, as the subtitle says, "a baseball original". Nathanson clearly has an affinity for Bouton, and wrote the biography with the support of him and his family. He captures the full picture of a man who as more than the sum of his parts-ballplayer, writer, tinkerer, adventurer, visionary. Highly recommended.
While Ball Four is the linchpin of Bouton's career. Nathanson digs well past that book to explore Bouton's upbringing and early career, his success with the Yankees, and the circumstances that led to Bouton writing the book. This biography then looks at the impact it had, and still has, not just on Bouton but on all of baseball.
Jim Bouton was a character, as the subtitle says, "a baseball original". Nathanson clearly has an affinity for Bouton, and wrote the biography with the support of him and his family. He captures the full picture of a man who as more than the sum of his parts-ballplayer, writer, tinkerer, adventurer, visionary. Highly recommended.
August 29, 2020
A long overdue biography of a baseball icon. Thoroughly researched and well written, the book offers a new perspective as most of what we knew about Jim Bouton came from Jim Bouton. I strongly advise that you first read ‘Ball Four’ (preferably the Final Pitch edition) as well as ‘I’m Glad You Didn’t Take it Personally’. The author goes into little detail about the diary specifics, the Seattle Pilots and the 1969 season so this book will resonate more if you’ve read those two books. Those books also offer more details about his children and his return to Yankee Stadium for Oldtimers Day in 1998.
December 7, 2020
Excellent book! If you haven't read Ball Four or don't why Jim Bouton is an important figure in baseball (especially of the 60's and 70's) then this book won't mean much to you. But, if you were a teenage boy in 70s and read Ball Four then it and Jim Bouton will always be part of you. Yes, I knew some of what Mr. Nathanson covers here but, certainly not all. This book helps to understand Bouton a little better, gain some insight, and shows us again (Like Ball Four did) that our heroes and people we may admire aren't perfect. Nor are they supposed to be.
August 9, 2021
Extremely disappointing. Written by a fanboy who has nothing bad to say about Bouton (a very flawed man). This book just fleshes out Ball Four really. There is barely any mention of his kids and ex-wife who I'm sure would have a different perspective of the subject. Ball Four was already biography of sorts (especially when he added on every 10 years). The question I kept coming to when reading this book was:
"Was this book really needed?"
No, it was not.
Just read Ball Four, still one of the greatest books ever.
"Was this book really needed?"
No, it was not.
Just read Ball Four, still one of the greatest books ever.
October 20, 2025
I have Ball 4 on my TBR list. When I saw the biography on the man who wrote Ball Four I thought maybe I should know about the player/man that wrote the book. Honestly, I was not impressed with Bouton. Since less than 1876 there have been less than 21,000 men to play professional baseball and Bouton was one. I'm glad I have an idea of who Bouton was but I was not impressed with him as a player or a man.
How did this book find me? He is an author of a book still talked about and figured I should know something about him.
How did this book find me? He is an author of a book still talked about and figured I should know something about him.
September 26, 2021
This effort encapsulates Bouton's career as a baseball, and to a certain extent life, iconoclast. It develops the reasons why Jim wound up being the way he was, and does a good job discussing what he did in his late and post-baseball career. Really the only thing preventing this from getting five stars was the over-gushing about "Ball Four" itself, but I guess that was to be expected. One of the better baseball biographies out there.
August 17, 2024
Have to go back and read Ball Four again! This was a great bio of Bouton... what inspired him to write the first true behind the scenes story of a professional sports locker room... author does a great job putting it in the perspective of the sports writing genre, and exploring Bouton's motivations... and then even more, what the book meant to the rest of Bouton's life (and to sports writing, and to the union, etc.) The ripples were much greater than I had ever realized.
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