Ball Four, Plus Ball Five: An Update, 1970-1980

by Jim Bouton

A famous expose of baseball behind the scenes has been expanded to include Bouton's comeback to the big leagues, the breakup of his marriage, and his current career as a writer and television personality

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Biography, Nonfiction

457 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1981

About the author

James Alan Bouton (March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 1962 and 1978. He was also a best-selling author, actor, activist, sportscaster and one of the creators of Big League Chew.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review thing asks: "What did you think?" My answer: "Jim Bouton is full of shit."

I try to refrain from using profanity in things like book reviews, but in this case, it is the only way to categorize it.

Apparently, when this book was first released, it cause a big stir in the baseball community and in the fandom of America. Mostly, I can see why: it is boring, and Bouton takes all 400+ pages to whine about money, coaches, his knuckleball, wanting to start/pitch, and he relishes every opportunity to dish on how depraved every single big league ball player is.

He also, with delight, flouted the stated motto that "what happens in the clubhouse, stays in the clubhouse" that governs baseball.

And he continually acts surprised that fellow baseball players hated the book.

Did I mention that this book is boring? The sections were divided up into days, all during the 1969 baseball season, and as each section was lifted from a diary, they were repetitive, and mostly filled with mind-numbing minutiae or strange anecdotes.

On this site, and on the book itself, I've seen this "memoir" praised as "An American Classic" and "a book deep in the American vein" and "the funniest book". Uh huh. Perhaps in 1969 when the book had some shock value, maybe. Now? The book is as washed up as Jim Bouton has been his entire career.

This book does nothing to advance the magic of baseball, or really tell about the ins and outs of baseball unless you want to believe that every player is a peeping tom that whines about money and when he gets to play next. Maybe that was baseball in 1969, but this is 2011 and this book should be forgotten.

Save yourself the pain, read something else.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thirty year old journeyman baseball pitcher, on the downside of his career, and trying to rescue it by going to the knuckleball, while on the roster of an expansion team, writes about his life and career.

Written in the 1960's, it was an eye opener for a lot of people. The time capsule aspect is very strong here. Baseball players being paid $12,600 a year? Nowadays the minimum is over $800,000. Maybe the strikers had a point. Also, the tales of peeping Tom behavior would definitely not go over well in this day and age.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ball Four maintains a reputation even today as being a groundbreaking book: Sports Illustrated has it as number three on its list of the 100 best sports books ever. As far as 'groundbreaking', I think it deserves its rep, but the thing about groundbreaking is that it's never very long before it's surpassed by others who build on the shocking or outrageous nature of what's come before. So I think that anyone approaching Ball Four with the idea that they are going to have their socks knocked off are probably going to be amazed at how tame it seems today.

That's not to take away from its status; I found Ball Four to be a lot of fun, but I grew up in Jim Bouton's era, and the players he talks about were the ones I knew of when I still idolized baseball. In fact, what caused me to buy the book in the first place--after hemming and hawing for a bit--was a quote from the introduction. Bouton got a lot of grief after publishing the book, and during one game, heard Pete Rose holler at him from the opposing team's dugout: "**** you, Shakespeare!" At that moment, I shut the book and took it up to the counter to buy.

Enough has been said about the book's contents that I think I can safely get away with simply saying it is Bouton's diary of his 1969 season with the expansion Seattle Pilots (which later became the Milwaukee Brewers) and the Houston Astros. The difference between this and the diary-style books that had come before was that Bouton didn't whitewash the story--not only did he give the lowdown on women and drugs in the sport, but also the relations between players and management, and on the player's attitudes toward the sport. Of all Bouton's revelations, I think its the last that's most surprising to me, although it isn't the first time I've been made aware of it. Every time I'm confronted with the fact that the players look at it like a job (which it is) rather than from fan's standpoint, it surprises me. It's always hard to reconcile my interest with their (mostly) dispassionate, professional approach.

But for the most part, there was little else in Ball Four that should come as a surprise to anyone these days. In fact, though I think he was honest about what was going on, I have the nagging suspicion--after modern tell-alls like Juiced, and the no-hitter that Dock Ellis threw in 1970 while supposedly under the influence of LSD--that there was even more that Bouton wasn't telling us. It was the late sixties after all. But the picture that eventually emerges is still very boyish, even without the whitewash. It seems as if baseball was still extremely conservative at the time, both the players and the management--conservative in values and conservative as in resisting change. For a book who's reputation rests on blowing the lid of the image of baseball as something taking place on Elysian Fields, what emerges reading it today is a picture of an age still rooted in 1950's America, though looking ahead toward the coming changes. Recommended mostly for those readers who grew up in this period, and can recognize the players that Bouton mentions, or for those who would like a glimpse into what baseball looked like in the late sixties.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read Ball Four in high school. Now, after Bouton’s recent passing, I decided to re-read it to see how it holds up. The short answer is: surprisingly well. When the book was first published it was scandalous and ruffled a lot of feathers. Bouton broke the code of “what happens in the locker room, stays in the locker room.” He spoke of players using speed (“greenies”), staying out late and getting drunk and playing the next day with a hangover, groupies and affairs on the road, etc. These revelations were news to fans, and outraged other players, not to mention the commissioner of baseball. (Reading the book now in 2019, I had to keep reminding myself that these revelations were not common knowledge back in 1970. They were shocking.)

But 50 years after its first publication, the book has taken on new meaning, which really demonstrates how the game has changed. For one, this book was written five or so years before free agency hit MLB; owners still had complete control over their players, and salaries were so low that many players still had to get off-season jobs. Bouton describes the nickel-and-diming that went on behind the scenes, players fighting management for an extra $1,000 (a year!) in salary, Bouton even had to fight the Seattle Pilots over $88 in damage they claim he did to a clubhouse door. Because he couldn't afford it. Times sure have changed, with the multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts that players now receive, and their ability to choose, for the most part, where they want to play.

The other thing that I found fascinating was Bouton’s description of his managers and coaches. They came off as company men who had put in their time and were rewarded with coaching jobs when their playing careers ended, and were not of much use except to spout cliches to their players. Nowadays coaching staffs have gotten younger, and the rise of analytics has completely changed the sport and made the coaching jobs more important, and demand more work and knowledge.

Another thing that Bouton touches on is race relations. Back then it was mostly how blacks and whites got along (don't forget this was right after the Civil Rights Movement and MLK's assassination), especially when it came to hanging out after games and who to pick for roommates (do players still even have roommates now?). Modern baseball has players from all over the world, especially Latin American countries and Japan. So not only are bilingual managers and coaches needed, but most teams also have interpreters.

Besides all these new ways that the book has become interesting, the writing is still just downright funny and intelligent—and honest. Bouton actually wrote a follow-up to Ball Four titled I’m Glad You Didn’t Take It Personally, which I will be reading next.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review title: Moneyball Four
last read Ball Four in high school, at which point in time and my life it seemed daring, and even dirty. Reading it again now it seems surprisingly tame, but even better than I remembered.

Ball Four was a breakthrough, a tell-all book about the closed locker-room behavior of big league ball players; while hardly a counter-culture epic, it scandalized the baseball establishment and won Bouton their relentless and eternal hatred. It defined, as well as any other reference point, the "old school" mentality of the old guard of baseball so effectively later dismantled by Moneyball. It is easy to picture any of the older coaches or managers in Ball Four looking and acting like the older scouts from Brad Pitt's movie version of Moneyball.

The interesting thing, and the reason I rate the original so highly, is the ability of Bouton to convey irony and humor with such reserved and reasoned responses to the ridiculousness surrounding him. This understated writing lets the reader respond with the slow, sly grin of recognition that makes true comedy work. Not an easy thing to write, at all, even when Bouton makes it look effortless.

The best part of it is his position as a marginal major league relief pitcher, nearing the end of his career, and extending it only with the help of his late-arriving knuckleball (fondly nicknamed "SuperKnuck" by Bouton on those nights when it was truly unhittable), necessitated by the alligator that bit his elbow every time he tried to throw a fastball or slider. A rookie, a team leader, or even an average everyday player, could not have operated on the observant margins of a baseball team and season the way Bouton the sometimes forgotten reliever could.

And while I referenced the dismantling of the Ball Four mentality by the Moneyball mind, lest you think baseball is now modern and no longer Neanderthal any real baseball fan will immediately recognize the heart and soul of the baseball game played yesterday by his favorite team.

Note on the "Ball Five" of this edition. Ten years after the original, the original was republished with a short update by Bouton on the years since. This section is not nearly as well written or interesting as the original, and lacks the essential meaningless of the framework of a baseball season that makes baseball work even now as an enduring "pastime". Real life is so painful that sometimes, only the months-long regularity of a baseball season, and the hours-long monotony of a baseball game, can make it endurable. If you find a copy of the original, buy and read it. It stands alone as a great near-classic of 20th century American literature.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have read Ball Four 4 or 5 times in the 80s and 90s, maybe more. The book does endorse and glorify sexual harassment (aka beaver shooting) and other prurient and piggish behavior. It's uncomfortable - and of course, the discomfort comes in part from having failed to notice the inappropriateness before.

Jim Bouton in 1970 had many progressive views and had uncommon insights into the insular baseball world of his day. Many of the revelations and attitudes in Ball Four that seem unexceptional today were all but revolutionary. Bouton and editor Leonard Shecter resisted sanitizing this account of baseball life in 1969. That they were blind to some of the prejudices they maintained in the text (even as they exposed others) serves to make the document yet more fascinating.

When the book takes a light look at "stews" (stewardesses) and the disrespectful way they were treated by the author and his teammates in 1969, we ought to be turned off. But I also valued the reminder of how little such material bothered me in the past. That stuff happened then, and it happens now, but it needs to happen less and less, and Ball Four can help us chart our progress.

[Alexw · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mediocre novel about a mediocre pitcher with mediocre writing.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best sports books ever, vilified when first released now understood to have been good for baseball

When the book “Ball Four” first came out in 1970, it created a major sensation. For it was the first sports book that presented athletes in any light other than as the shining, pristine hero. There had been a tradition in baseball that books “written” by athletes were not to ever mention the dubious escapades of the players. “Ball Four” tore off that veneer, exposing some very questionable activity. What was amazing was that no one ever really disputed what Bouton was saying, only that he had no right to say it. In my opinion, in writing this book, Bouton did baseball and the country a great service.
In “Ball Four”, Bouton openly talks about Mickey Mantle’s alcohol problems. The fact is that Mickey died an early death from liver disease that was a consequence of his heavy drinking. His life after baseball was largely a miserable one after he retired. In one of his last statements, Mickey said “Play like me, don’t live like me.” The recent and repeated scandals over extensive steroid use in major league baseball clearly demonstrate that the people who run the game still don’t understand the situation. Bouton himself openly talks about getting better performance through chemicals. On page 45, he writes “Baseball players will take anything. If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher 20 wins but might take 5 years off his life, he’d take it.”
Before I read this book, I had read many sports books, both fiction and non-fiction. Unfortunately, once I read it, I understood that many of those labeled as non-fiction should have been labeled as fiction. Reading it did not turn me off on baseball; that was done by the subsequent nonsense and denials about drug use and gambling in the game. One wonders if we would even have heard about them if it were not for the “writings” of Jim Bouton.

This review also appears on Amazon

[cheeseblab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny to think that this once scandalized people. About the only thing that could shock today would be the recognition that the author's attitude toward women, which would today qualify as thoroughly cavemannish, was actually pretty progressive by the standards of his milieu.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember first reading Ball Four when I was maybe 10-11 years old. Certainly a lot of it went over my head, but at the same time, it made quite an impression on me. I saw for the first time that baseball players were human and did the same goofy stuff the rest of us did.

It also made me want to learn to throw a knuckle ball. This was long, long before the internet and YouTube tutorials. So imagine me out there trying to learn from diagrams in books. That went about as well as you’d expect. I played Little League but our coach was just someone’s dad who had free time on weekends, so I didn’t get any encouragement or proper instruction from that end.

I eventually gave up my dream of becoming a knuckle ball throwing relief pitcher and moved on with my life.
I hadn’t thought about Ball Four in decades, until someone on twitter mentioned it. I thought, man, I loved that book - I should give it another read.

I can’t imagine a book like this could be published today. Jim Bouton dropped names throughout the book - and with good and bad stories - earning himself a lifelong cold shoulder from the sports establishment. In the Ball Five updated chapter, he says there are more salacious books being written now (“now” being the early ‘80s). Possibly that’s true. I read a lot of rock bios but not many sports bios. I think the overall tone of the book would not be welcome in today’s society though. Conversely, Bouton is very progressive in many of his opinions, for example racial integration of the major leagues. Keep in mind the original version of this book was only about 20 years after Jackie Robinson.

In that regard, I think the book has aged well. Possibly when I was 10 years old I recognized more of the players’ names; now I only remember the bigger stars Bouton talks about. But whether you know the names or not, Ball Four is a satisfying diary of a past-his-prime pitcher trying to hang on in the major leagues. And, no spoilers, he does.

[Joe Dungan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even in today's stories of steroids and other excess found in contemporary baseball books, "Ball Four" is still a delightfully crude expose of the game, if for no other reason than there had never been such an expose before. But what made "Ball Four" for me was Bouton's feeling of being a chronic outsider but still managing to point out the foolishness around him. I'd long been able to relate to the "outsider" part when I first read this at age 15, but I'd never read any prose that made the insiders look so ridiculous. His ear for irony and often matter-of-fact descriptions of the daily barrage of outrages, absurdities, and lunacies that permeated baseball makes this certainly the best sports book I've ever read, and easily the most influential. It's influenced my writing more than any book I've ever read. I'm pleased to make my first review on goodreads a review of "Ball Four."

[Joel Haas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of its kind, this literal inside-baseball look at the fun, dysfunction, and relationships built in the world of baseball circa 1969 provides a ton of fun anecdotes about players that many of us have forgotten (or never knew).

Bouton wrote a handful of memories each day throughout the season. Most are only a few sentences, some a bit longer, some just a few words. It makes this book both fun and very easy to put down, unfortunately.

I enjoyed it but, as often happens, the first of its kind is not necessarily the best. This 'year in the life' was revolutionary at the time and now is an interesting (and still influential) story, but having been outdone by history is no longer shocking.

[Paul Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like opening a baseball time capsule. This is a diary of a pitcher w/the Seattle Pilots in 1969 (if you know they became the Brewers, this book is for you). It's amazingly candid about the booze, pills, women, AND shockingly little money involved in playing major league baseball. This book was the first of the 'tell all' books - Bouton became a pariah when it was published, and to everyone's surprise, became a major best seller.

Absolute must read for any baseball historian (but if you're one of those, you've already read this book). If it's been a while, read it again. It's that much fun.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally got around to reading this. Maybe it had just been built-up too much in my mind, but I was a little disappointed. It's a totally unique and fascinating perspective, but the diary format felt a little droning after a while. I was also struck by how this lifestyle has no connection to that of the player in the free agent era.

[David Gurney · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a partly candid snapshot of a form of jock culture in the late 1960s, this is fascinating. I like the fragmented and flexible diaristic approach of it as well. The unchecked misogyny is a bit much, but, again, it reveals some of the seedy underbelly of America's pastime.

[Marc Kirner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book.

[Tom Ozga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Baseball diary

[Brian Jarsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good look into baseball. First time I heard the phrase "beaver shooting."