Staff Pick
I couldn't tell you who won last year's World Series, because I don't follow baseball. But this sports book has earned a sterling reputation as a classic that transcends the game.
Author/knuckleball pitcher Jim Bouton has the humorist's eye for telling, pithy detail, and the memoirist's courage in sharing honest and sometimes unflattering anecdotes about himself and his teammates. In short, from its opening pitch to the final out, Ball Four is a heckuva read. Highly recommended! Recommended By Bart K., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
The beloved baseball classic now available in paperback, with an updated epilogue by Jim Bouton
When Ball Four was first published in 1970, it hit the sports world like a lightning bolt. Commissioners, executives, and players were shocked. Sportswriters called author Jim Bouton a traitor and ""social leper."" Commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force him to declare the book untrue. Fans, however, loved the book. And serious critics called it an important social document. Today, Jim Bouton is still not invited to Oldtimer's Days at Yankee Stadium. But his landmark book is still being read by people who don't ordinarily follow baseball.
For the updated edition of this historic book, Bouton has written a new epilogue, detailing his perspective on how baseball has changed since the last edition was released.
Review
""A book deep in the American vein, so deep in fact it is by no means a sports book.""
—David Halberstam
""Ball Four is a people book, not just a baseball book."" —Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times
Synopsis
The beloved baseball classic now available in paperback, with an updated epilogue by Jim Bouton When Ball Four was first published in 1970, it ignited a firestorm of controversy. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold, and a "social leper" for having violated the "sanctity of the clubhouse." Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn attempted to force Bouton to sign a statement saying that the book wasn't true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn't read the book, denounced it. The San Diego Padres burned a copy in the clubhouse. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four, and serious critics called it an important document. Fans liked discovering that the athletes they worshiped were real people. Historians understood the value of the book's depth and honesty. Besides changing the public image of athletes, the book played a role in the economic revolution in professional sports. In 1975, Ball Four was accepted as legal evidence against the owners at the arbitration hearing that led to free agency in baseball, and by extension, in other sports. Today Ball Four has taken on another role-as a time capsule of life in the sixties. "It is not just a diary of Bouton's 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros," says sportswriter Jim Caple. "It's a vibrant, funny, telling history of an era that seems even further away than three decades. To call it simply a 'tell-all book' is like describing The Grapes of Wrath as a book about harvesting peaches in California."
Synopsis
50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
New York Public Library Book of the Century Selection
Time Magazine "100 Greatest Non-Fiction Books" Selection
New Foreword from Jim Bouton's Wife, Paula Bouton When Ball Four was first published in 1970, it hit the sports world like a lightning bolt. Commissioners, executives, and players were shocked. Sportswriters called author Jim Bouton a traitor and "social leper." Commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force him to declare the book untrue. Fans, however, loved the book. And serious critics called it an important social document. Following his death, Bouton's landmark book has remained popular and his legacy lives on through its many readers, including those who don't ordinarily follow baseball.
For the updated edition of this historic book, Bouton wrote a new epilogue, detailing his perspective on how baseball has changed since the last edition was released.
About the Author
Jim Bouton, former major league pitcher, is now a writer, businessman, motivational speaker, and ace pitcher for a semipro baseball team near his home in Teaneck, New Jersey.