Ball Four – Jim Bouton

Quite possibly the most influential book written about baseball prior to Money Ball, Jim Bouton’s inside tale of his time with the upstart Seattle Pilots in 1969 was a controversial, never before seen look into the dugouts, locker rooms and bullpens of Major League Baseball. Since it was published in 1970, many other players have written memoirs and journal style books of their journey through the minor and Major Leagues, but none compare to the original by Bouton.

Jim Bouton was a starter and a relief pitcher for the Yankees from 1962 through 1968, specializing in the knuckle ball, but the book focuses primarily on the 1969 season during which it was written. This was the first and only season of the Seattle Pilots (who would become the Milwaukee Brewers). While the primary reason for the controversy surrounding Ball Four has to do with his admitting of the abuse of “greenies” and alcohol among baseball players, that is a very shallow reason to read a book such as this. Yes, there are stories about Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Lou Piniella and other baseball greats from the 1960’s, but outside of the obsession with celebrity, these are not necessarily the best tales.

What Ball Four allows you to do is to get into the head of a baseball player who is not a superstar. During the season covered he goes from the unknown of whether he would even make it on the expansion team despite his veteran status to a trip to the club’s minor league team in Hawaii. Like thousands of players before and after, Bouton went through highs and lows without ever being great enough to remove the worry of failure. Everyone knows the stories of the greatest players of all-time. This is the story of a slightly above average pitcher who’s career extended a little longer than it should have.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how alone Bouton feels. The book was written secret as it broke several baseball taboos and he goes into his feelings regarding this. It is written in a daily journal style, so whatever he is feeling that day comes out. This is much more revealing than if he had simply waited until the end of the season and written it as a story, replacing drama with emotion. Some of the best insight written came not about who was taking what drugs, but Bouton’s personal interactions with his pitching and bullpen coaches, who he believed were misusing him. While every once in awhile a pitcher will let some discontent slip out in an interview, interactions between coaches and players are largely hidden in baseball.

There is one extra bonus inside for Indians fans as Bouton’s roommate in Seattle was the great Tribe reliever Gary Bell. Bell had an outrageous personality and since they spent so much time together both in and out of game play, he features in the book as a supporting character. As with the other players and coaches, the stories of the two of them together are more that would have been lost to history if it weren’t for Bouton taking the time to write them down. Considering how enthralling these 370 pages are, covering just the life of a single player for a single season, it is hard to imagine all the stories over the long history of professional baseball. It was Jim Bouton who gave baseball fans that first real, deep look inside that history.