Posted on 07/11/2019 5:22:18 AM PDT by foreverfree
The former New York Yankees pitcher who wrote the most famous tell-all book in baseball history has died.
Jim Bouton, author of “Ball Four,” was 80.
According to the New York Daily News, Mr. Bouton died Wednesday at his home in Massachusetts from a brain disease linked to dementia.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
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I did enjoy that book.
“Ball Four” was quite a sensation. In it, Bouton described how baseball players (specifically the Mickey Mantle-era NY Yankees) really act. It was pretty scandalous...and a page-turner.
Seems like he was a decent pitcher too.
Yes, as I recall, Bouton won 21 games in ‘64, the last great year of those Mantle/Ford/Richardson etc. teams. The Yankees fell apart in ‘65 and took a decade to recover. Great book that was enjoyable to read. RIP Jim.
The man was dangerous. He did tell the truth. But in so doing he ratted out his teammates and people who trusted him. He was never trusted again.
I read the book , but I was too young to get it. My brother had the book and I think we were just looking for the dirty words that were in print (which was another “cutting edge” aspect to the book).
“Ball Four” helped open up writing about political campaigns and reporters, becoming the inspiration for Timothy Crouse’s “The Boys on the Bus.” After that, Teddy White’s “Making of the President” series of political campaign books began to look more and more like dull official narrative histories.
He also had 2 follow up books that were pretty good -
“I’m glad you didn’t take it personally”
and
“I managed good but boy did they play bad”
“After that, Teddy White’s “Making of the President” series of political campaign books began to look more and more like dull official narrative histories.”
I read several of those. Mom had them in paperback. Great summer reads.
He came out of retirement at age 40 and won one game throwing the knuckleball with the Braves.
His book became a short-lived CBS sitcom.
I don't know about the rest of his teammates but Bouton and Mickey Mantle reconciled.
“who wrote the most famous tell-all book in baseball history”
Jose Canseco might have something to say about that.
White’s books are essential but limited. With what we know now, White’s account of the 1960 Kennedy campaign reads like a fairy tale, with no hint of JFK’s relentless womanizing. And the discrepancy between White’s tomes and what actually happened behind the scenes eventually became a burden even for White, who after 1972 professed himself a practitioner of traditional journalism, not a psychologist or muckraker or peeper through keyholes.
I don’t remember much about them. I take your word for it. Many years later I read a book about the Kennedy clan that was quite revealing. Can’t remember the title, but it was a good read too.
Makes me think I should get back to reading biographies. I enjoyed almost every one I read. I think I still have one about Jefferson I didn’t get through because it was so “scholarly.” All the citing of source material got boring quickly.
So did I. Got it for a Xmas present in '82 (a reprint that included Ball Five) but didn't get around to reading it cover to cover until '86. You could tell Jim was a lib but that didn't ruin the book for me, either then or when I read my library's copy cover to cover again last summer (I'd given my copy away to the library's used book sale.
ff
Perhaps the most revealing Kennedy book I have read is “The Dark Side of Camelot” by Seymour Hersch. An old history major, I have far too many shelves and boxes of books — most of which feature lots of footnotes.
Jane Leavys book on Mickey Mantle was brutal - a real hero buster - but I guess everyone knew
I was in high school when I read Ball Four and there were a couple of things I distinctly remember. First was the part where he talked about the coaches who looked younger by a decade or more because they maintained good suntans. The other was the subcompact beat up car they drove during spring training in Florida. It was a real junker and I think they only put gas in it. No oil or maintenance of any sort. After the last spring training it was abandoned on some street in town. After coming back to the town a couple years later it was discovered parked in the same place. And it still ran!
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