Over 50 Years Since “Ball Four”

Spoutin’ Bouton

BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher

It’s been over 50 years since the publication of Jim Bouton’s controversial book “Ball Four.”

Love it or hate it, the book had a huge impact on baseball and sports books in general. For good or bad, Bouton almost single-handedly removed the veneer of the squeaky-clean image of sports heroes.

Tell-all books are common today, but five decades ago, “Ball Four” was a revolutionary look behind the scenes of baseball.

According to Wikipedia: “Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn called ‘Ball Four’ detrimental to baseball and tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying that the book was completely fictional. Bouton refused to deny any of the revelations in ‘Ball Four.’”

Wiki also states: “Many of Bouton’s teammates never forgave him for publicly airing what he had learned in private about their flaws and foibles. The book made Bouton unpopular with many players, coaches and officials on other teams as well …”

Controversy sells. And so did “Ball Four.” The chronicle of Bouton’s 1969 season with the Seattle pilots and Houston Astros returned the washed up former Yankee pitching star to the limelight.

A few of those mentioned in the book …

Both ’70 Topps

All three cards: ’69 Topps

In 1962, Bouton made his Yankees’ debut at age 23. In 16 starts that year, he went 7-7, with a 3.99 ERA. The next season he blossomed – going 21-7, with a 2.53 ERA and making the All-Star team.

In ’64, he was 18-13 and posted a 3.02 ERA. In that year’s World Series against the Cardinals, Bouton won two games, with a 1.56 ERA. But from that point on, Bouton’s career nose-dived.

Hampered by arm trouble, his record in 1965 was only 4-15 and his ERA ballooned to 4.82. Three mediocre seasons followed.

Developing a knuckleball, he caught on with expansion Pilots in 1969; was traded to the Astros mid-season and finished his career with Houston the next year. A brief comeback with Atlanta in 1978 proved futile.

• • • Bouton Trivia • • •

• Bouton was a McGovern delegate at the 1972 Democratic convention.

• “Ball Four” made Time magazine’s list of “100 greatest non-fiction books.”

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(In 1981, Bouton updated the book by adding the years
1970-80 to the original – naming it “Ball Four Plus Ball Five.”)

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See related article on BaseballCardFun.com entitled:
“TWIN TIMES — Book Review — Ball Four Plus Ball Five”
Click Link Here

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