Ball Four: The Final Pitch

This is the third time I've read the book. The last time was about twenty years ago. Has the great expose faded in its intensity and boldness through the years? Yes I think it has. Are the stories as funny as I had remembered? Yes, despite the immature locker room busting chops and pranks, I still laughed out loud numerous times. But remember most of those guys were still young men. The locker room reminded me of my fraternity house: the same kind of humor-just not as good. So, it's a bit politically incorrect and sexist. Can anyone really say they didn't love Animal House when they first saw it? Prank example: A faux legal letter is sent to pitcher Fred Talbot promising a paternity suit is in the works. Talbot, rereading it three times, buries his head. Teammate Tommy Davis says, after the prank is revealed, "I didn't think you Caucasians could get any whiter". Ray Oyler follows with, "You couldn't have pulled a needle out of his ass with a tractor." Prank example: Joe Pepitone goes to the team trainer complaining about his penis, after he had placed a piece of popcorn underneath his foreskin. The doctor says, "I have never seen a venereal disease like this before in my life." Best oral line: The Seattle Pilots moved up batting practice to accommodate a nationally televised game. The new time was 10:30. Catcher Jim Pagliaroni quips, "I'm not even done throwing up at that hour!" Best written line: On a form that players had to fill out for the publicity department, one question asked "what is the most difficult thing about playing major league baseball?". Mike Hegan writes, explaining to your wife why SHE has to get a penicillin shot for your kidney infection." Best bit: Dick Stuart(strange glove), habitually late for meetings, shows up late and mimics a red carpet academy award announcer..... "He's wearing a Stanley Blacker jacket with Adolfo shoes... Best duo bit: Mimicking what it was like for Mickey Mantle, always played in great pain, when he would be asked by a coach how his legs were and if he could play. "I'm fine, I'll just scotch tape my lower leg to my upper leg"... But it's far from all laughs. This book told of the culture of baseball as it was before 1970. This was a time when players worked in the off season-had to. They squabbled over a $2-3000 raise-often losing to the dictatorial GM. It was a time of exploitation and Bouton makes it clear why the baseball owners and especially former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn hated the book. He had committed heresy, not so much for blabbing about inept coaches or the tell-all nature of the book, but by talking about salaries and the reserve clause. Remember this is the year Marvin Miller is just beginning to work for players. Free agency still didn't exist except in the minds of free thinkers. Today's players get about $600,000 minimum salary and about $220,000 a year pension after 10 years of service. Bouton's year in 1969 was a transition year from the Dark Ages to what may have gone too far in the other direction. It was a time of relative simplicity. Wins were what counted for a pitcher to get a raise. It was a time when the expression, "throw the ball, see the ball, hit the ball" was in vogue. No advanced stats, no defensive shifts, just simply play ball. Yet still players, Bouton included, felt grateful that they were able to play the game in the majors even if they barely made ends meet. There are some interesting points made too about racial differences, the counter-culture, and even the Vietnam War. I found it interesting that Bouton opined that players try not to get too close to one another because they may be demoted or traded and it hurts too much: much the same as rotating troops every 9 months so that men would not form too close a bond when they saw fellow soldiers get killed in action. But what really got my attention was the prevalence of "greenies" in baseball as early as the late 60's. I had thought it was a 70's thing. Don Michner is quoted as saying the entire Oriole and Detroit teams were users as well as 50% of the Pilots. There was some gossip too: Elston Howard was duplicitous as per Bouton, and Maris and Yaz often dogged it. Bouton may have whined a bit in the book, but it's an honest memoir and Bouton let's us know that players care for their own personal achievements first and team next. He frankly discusses how a borderline pitcher like himself is often ambivalent about a competitor's success even if he is a teammate. He often rooted for the team but with the condition that his competition got shelled first and then the team rallied to win. It is a tight rope that Bouton had to carefully maneuver. He captures how baseball "grabs you" with this memory. He is on a plane with turbulence going to Houston for his first start for that team. he thinks to himself, "gee if this plane goes down, I hope that the papers at least have me down as the probable starter." This is a fascinating look into the life of a big leaguer of those times. Finances and freedom have changed, but I'll bet the pranks and busting chops are still just as prevalent. Updates: For those of you fortunate to have the updated version, I must say that I was moved to tears several times by the chapter called "The Last thirty Years". In this chapter we get to know the maturing Jim Bouton; it embodies the aging process of its author in a most meaningful way. As Jim tries to come to grips with life after a short comeback in 1978, he must deal with the reality of "it's time hang up the spikes" and all that that means. The longing to play ball even in small towns, to hang on to the memories, the dreams of a baseball life still gnaw at him. He is 57 and he is aging and trying to live with the worst kind of pain-the loss of a beautiful, loving daughter just beginning her third decade of life. This chapter is so poignant and raw it's almost to difficult to bear. The letter from step-sister Hollis to her recently deceased sister is just one of several moments to grip the reader. Then there is the magnificent father's Day gift from son Michael, whose open letter published by the NY Times to the Yankees entreating them to invite his father to the Old Timer's Game, leads to one of Jim Bouton's most satisfying days, even if it is only a temporary hiatus from his suffering and debilitating loss. I have no doubt that even seventeen years later, the anxiety and the depression still remain, although one hopes only occasionally and that Jim and Paula are enjoying their lives and their grandchildren. Thank you so much for letting us into your heart with such a heart wrenching chapter.This is the third time I've read the book. The last time was about twenty years ago. Has the great expose faded in its intensity and boldness through the years? Yes I think it has. Are the stories as funny as I had remembered? Yes, despite the immature locker room busting chops and pranks, I still laughed out loud numerous times. But remember most of those guys were still young men. The locker room reminded me of my fraternity house: the same kind of humor-just not as good. So, it's a bit politically incorrect and sexist. Can anyone really say they didn't love Animal House when they first saw it? Prank example: A faux legal letter is sent to pitcher Fred Talbot promising a paternity suit is in the works. Talbot, rereading it three times, buries his head. Teammate Tommy Davis says, after the prank is revealed, "I didn't think you Caucasians could get any whiter". Ray Oyler follows with, "You couldn't have pulled a needle out of his ass with a tractor." Prank example: Joe Pepitone goes to the team trainer complaining about his penis, after he had placed a piece of popcorn underneath his foreskin. The doctor says, "I have never seen a venereal disease like this before in my life." Best oral line: The Seattle Pilots moved up batting practice to accommodate a nationally televised game. The new time was 10:30. Catcher Jim Pagliaroni quips, "I'm not even done throwing up at that hour!" Best written line: On a form that players had to fill out for the publicity department, one question asked "what is the most difficult thing about playing major league baseball?". Mike Hegan writes, explaining to your wife why SHE has to get a penicillin shot for your kidney infection." Best bit: Dick Stuart(strange glove), habitually late for meetings, shows up late and mimics a red carpet academy award announcer..... "He's wearing a Stanley Blacker jacket with Adolfo shoes... Best duo bit: Mimicking what it was like for Mickey Mantle, always played in great pain, when he would be asked by a coach how his legs were and if he could play. "I'm fine, I'll just scotch tape my lower leg to my upper leg"... But it's far from all laughs. This book told of the culture of baseball as it was before 1970. This was a time when players worked in the off season-had to. They squabbled over a $2-3000 raise-often losing to the dictatorial GM. It was a time of exploitation and Bouton makes it clear why the baseball owners and especially former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn hated the book. He had committed heresy, not so much for blabbing about inept coaches or the tell-all nature of the book, but by talking about salaries and the reserve clause. Remember this is the year Marvin Miller is just beginning to work for players. Free agency still didn't exist except in the minds of free thinkers. Today's players get about $600,000 minimum salary and about $220,000 a year pension after 10 years of service. Bouton's year in 1969 was a transition year from the Dark Ages to what may have gone too far in the other direction. It was a time of relative simplicity. Wins were what counted for a pitcher to get a raise. It was a time when the expression, "throw the ball, see the ball, hit the ball" was in vogue. No advanced stats, no defensive shifts, just simply play ball. Yet still players, Bouton included, felt grateful that they were able to play the game in the majors even if they barely made ends meet. There are some interesting points made too about racial differences, the counter-culture, and even the Vietnam War. I found it interesting that Bouton opined that players try not to get too close to one another because they may be demoted or traded and it hurts too much: much the same as rotating troops every 9 months so that men would not form too close a bond when they saw fellow soldiers get killed in action. But what really got my attention was the prevalence of "greenies" in baseball as early as the late 60's. I had thought it was a 70's thing. Don Michner is quoted as saying the entire Oriole and Detroit teams were users as well as 50% of the Pilots. There was some gossip too: Elston Howard was duplicitous as per Bouton, and Maris and Yaz often dogged it. Bouton may have whined a bit in the book, but it's an honest memoir and Bouton let's us know that players care for their own personal achievements first and team next. He frankly discusses how a borderline pitcher like himself is often ambivalent about a competitor's success even if he is a teammate. He often rooted for the team but with the condition that his competition got shelled first and then the team rallied to win. It is a tight rope that Bouton had to carefully maneuver. He captures how baseball "grabs you" with this memory. He is on a plane with turbulence going to Houston for his first start for that team. he thinks to himself, "gee if this plane goes down, I hope that the papers at least have me down as the probable starter." This is a fascinating look into the life of a big leaguer of those times. Finances and freedom have changed, but I'll bet the pranks and busting chops are still just as prevalent. Updates: For those of you fortunate to have the updated version, I must say that I was moved to tears several times by the chapter called "The Last thirty Years". In this chapter we get to know the maturing Jim Bouton; it embodies the aging process of its author in a most meaningful way. As Jim tries to come to grips with life after a short comeback in 1978, he must deal with the reality of "it's time hang up the spikes" and all that that means. The longing to play ball even in small towns, to hang on to the memories, the dreams of a baseball life still gnaw at him. He is 57 and he is aging and trying to live with the worst kind of pain-the loss of a beautiful, loving daughter just beginning her third decade of life. This chapter is so poignant and raw it's almost to difficult to bear. The letter from step-sister Hollis to her recently deceased sister is just one of several moments to grip the reader. Then there is the magnificent father's Day gift from son Michael, whose open letter published by the NY Times to the Yankees entreating them to invite his father to the Old Timer's Game, leads to one of Jim Bouton's most satisfying days, even if it is only a temporary hiatus from his suffering and debilitating loss. I have no doubt that even seventeen years later, the anxiety and the depression still remain, although one hopes only occasionally and that Jim and Paula are enjoying their lives and their grandchildren. Thank you so much for letting us into your heart with such a heart wrenching chapter.

One of the many things that the 1939 classic film ‘Gone With the Wind’ is known for was that it was the first major film to feature a swear word. Apparently when Rhett Butler muttered “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”, it was so scandalous that it caused little old ladies in their theater seats to reach for their smelling salts. That seems almost unbelievable when 50 years later, you almost needed a mainframe computer to keep track of all of the “F” words in a typical Martin Scorsese movie. Times definitely change.I mention this analogy because I basically felt the same way reading this “controversial, scandalous” book 50 years after it was written. This non-fiction book written by baseball player Jim Bouton ruffled so many feathers when written, that the then commissioner Bowie Kuhn threatened (then pleaded) Bouton to state that the book was actually fiction and Bouton made the whole thing up. Bouton, of course, refused. Reading this book so many years later, it really is hard to see what all the fuss was about. This thing now seems relatively tame. Especially if one has read the scores of recent books by the many colorful athletes such as Jose Canseco, David Wells, and Lenny Dykstra. Modern day readers of this book expecting to be “shocked” are likely to be disappointed instead.This book chronicles a year of baseball player Jim Bouton, and essentially serves as a diary and an observation of one year of his baseball life. Jim Bouton had his best years in the early 1960s. This book details his 1969 season, when his best years were obviously behind him. It also doesn’t make things any more interesting when Bouton played for the expansion Seattle Pilots that year. For those who don’t know, the Pilots lasted an entire one year in Seattle before they became the Milwaukee Brewers. By then, Bouton was long gone. Then we look at his role on the team. In 1969, Bouton was relegated to the bullpen as mostly a mop up/ long relief pitcher, which is usually reserved for the least effective pitchers on the squad. So when such a mediocre individual dictates the year of a mediocre team, you’re likely to come away feeling quite bored throughout much of the book. We constantly read about Bouton working on his knuckleball in the bullpen and whining to his coaches for more playing time. This whining of his goes on for most of the whole season. It gets old quick.But the episodes of the book that made this thing so memorable, though, wasn’t his own struggles, yet his R-rated observations of the ballplayers that he played with and played against. So yes, we read about players taking “broads” back to their hotel rooms and popping “greenies” (amphetamines) before the games, but it all seems quite tame 50 years later. Much of the verbiage, jargon, and anecdotes that the author shares really haven’t aged that well either and most of his funny stories really aren’t that funny. It’s also quite difficult keeping track of the multitude of players and coaches on the team. Part of this is because 90% of the players from 1969 aren’t really well known to most modern fans of the game. Today most fans can’t recollect people like Tommy Harper, Mike Marshall, and Doug Rader. These guys weren’t that bad back then, but history has a way of erasing most of the ‘good’ players from fans’ memories, and we tend to only remember the ‘greats’.It was quite interesting, though, and a bit sad to see how much the game really has changed. In particular, these players were a far cry from ‘wealthy’. This book was written before the free agency boon came into play a few years later. This finally dictated that ball players should actually be payed what they’re worth. So in 1969, the best of the best of the best of ball players were majorly taken advantage of by their greedy owners. It seems quite ridiculous hearing Bouton negotiating to be paid $19,000 per year when his team won’t budge over $17,000. True, $17,000 per year went a lot further in 1969 than it does now, but when compared to eight-figure salaries that ballplayers nowadays make, you can’t help but feel such an amount is nothing more than worthless chump change.So a lot of complaining about money, a lot of whining about not getting enough pitching time, and the general skullduggery of ballplayers sneaking out past curfew after night games, don’t really hold up that well when we read about such shenanigans over an entire baseball season. In fact, the most interesting parts of Bouton’s reflections of the 1969 season deal with when he’s briefly sent to the minors early in the season, and when he’s traded to the Houston Astros late in the year. The Astros (unlike the hapless Pilots) actually had a slim chance of making the playoffs, so the day by day accounts were a bit more interesting. Really, though, the only reason why these episodes are more interesting is because they somehow breakup the monotony of Bouton’s entire lifeless season.I should also put out that the author ‘re-released’ this book 10, 20 and 30 years after the 1969 season. Each of these releases feature a new chapter from the author with his reflections on the last ten years since he last “talked” to us. Sadly, though, these additions really aren’t that interesting. Sometimes he’ll make reflections on how the game has changed, and these are fun to read. Unfortunately, though, he mostly peppers these later chapters with personal information that simply didn’t interest me. Nothing personal, but I really didn’t want to read about his sour marital relations nor his various business ventures. Had there been more baseball, I might have enjoyed these sections more, but overall it was a chore to read.Still, though, when I review the book, I really need to be fair and try to imagine how it must felt reading this thing in the year 1970 instead of 2020. History tells us that it was a revelation at the time, so I can’t let my modern tastes be too cruel to the experience. I would advise modern fans to read other books by their current day heroes first. Then, go back and give this one a try and see how it compares against some of the latter day works. For me, this thing simply hasn’t aged that well.

I spent several years playing football and the experience,that I had, tells me that this book is all true. It is such a fun read, and I do enjoyed it, that I was sorry that it ended.

At its time of publication, Ball Four stirred the calm waters of baseball. Jim Bouton revealed the past times and shenanigans that pro players got up to on the road and at ball parks, which the owners weren't entirely happy getting out in the public eye, and Bouton was persona non grata with some players and managers who didn't appreciate the book he wrote. Reading it today it doesn't seem to groundbreaking, aside from the beaver shooting, but for lovers of baseball and sports it's a very good read, containing insight on the inner workings in pro sports, pitching and anecdotes on some famous players. A few things that I had issue with were the absence of Bouton mentioning his wife at the time Bobbie, who stayed home and raised his kids, and the lack of gratitude to her sacrifices. His second wife, Paula gets a whole epilogue and many words of praise, while Bobbie is only mentioned in passing when Bouton's daughter Laurie is tragically fatally injured in a car crash. Another thing I didn't like was that alongside the many epilogues in the book, Bouton doesn't provide any closure on how his team did at the end of the season he has just described in great detail. But despite these gripes it's a very good book.

So much to like in what is probably one of the best baseball books ever written.The closest equivalent for a UK audience would be Eamon Dunphy's mid-70s masterpiece `Only a Game'. They were both written by professional sportsmen in an era before big money came into their sports, whose best days were behind them and at a time when the mantra `what happens in the dressing room, stays in the dressing room' was still king.Bouton is insightful and a great storyteller. While some of the stuff he and his fellow players got up to in the 60's now looks infantile and more than a little sexist, it was of its time and should be seen through that prism. Though the original diary-style 1968-9 musings were great, what really made this book a pleasure for me were the epilogues written ten, twenty, thirty and now nearly fifty years after the original. They showed a decent, liberal man who stayed true to himself and his beliefs, who gradually accepted a life outside of the sport and who ultimately found peace, even after the truly heart-wrenching death of his daughter, Laurie. Having been born in the same year as her, Bouton's writing was particularly meaningful to this reader.Oh, and I absolutely love the way also that he speaks for so many of us grouchy older sports fans as he mocks the OTT celebrations so commonplace in modern competition. My two favourite lines were: ` In my day, a player would hit the ball, toss his bat aside, jog around the bases, tip his cap, and sit down. A homer was a homer - not a religious experience' and `God does not care about somebody throwing a ball past a stick. Unless He's working on a knuckleball'.A great read.

One of the best baseball books I have read. A real page turner, depicting the lives, mostly on the field and in the locker room, of many of the Major League baseball stars during the short time Jim Bouton took daily notes. But more importantly the book describes the human, oh so very human, side of these players. Their insecurities, their jokes, their pranks and their exploits, strip away their flash uniforms to reveal what is really inside them. Hugely enjoyable.

I must admit, the first time I read it I didn't understand the baseball speak and therefore took me a while to get into it, but as I got more into the game via Channel 5 etc the better the book got! I've read it 4 times now (normally at the beginning of each baseball season) and it just gets funnier and funnier. Bouton's wit is superb. I can pick this book up anytime, anyday, go to a random page and I know I will laugh out loud.

This was the original expose. You do need knowledge of baseball to fully understand the story and how everything ties together

An excellent, funny and emotional book that educated and entertained this British baseball fan who has no history of the game, but loves it, I feel like I now understand it a lot more. Very entertaining.