"Ball Four" (1970) - Jim Bouton (1939-), aka "Benedict Arnold" to Some, Betrays the Inner Secrets of Major League Baseball

[DonRocks]

I have never read "Ball Four," but I suspect at least a couple of people here have, and I'm wondering if it's worth spending time on now that all the dirty laundry has been aired.

"'Ball Four' Changed Sports *and* Books" by Rob Neyer on static.espn.go.com

"Wit, Wisdom, and Social Commentary" by Jim Caple on staic.espn.go.com

If nothing else, "Ball Four" is probably the most significant thing ever to come out of the Seattle Pilots expansion team, which lasted exactly one year before moving to Milwaukee and becoming the Brewers.

[dcs]

Bouton is a fine writer and it is indeed a funny book, it is not really the dirty laundry book you might expect.  It probably won't take you more than a few days to read, so it's not much of an investment.  It is not a difficult book.

[DonRocks]

Bouton is a fine writer and it is indeed a funny book, it is not really the dirty laundry book you might expect.  It probably won't take you more than a few days to read, so it's not much of an investment.  It is not a difficult book.

Thanks, dcs.

(For the record, he had a collaborator (Leonard Shecter), so I doubt Bouton did much of the polished writing, although I'm sure the thoughts were his.)

[Seanchai]

The first time I read it, i frequently laughed so hard I had to put the book down until I got control of myself.  He has a gift for random, observed humor and you eventually get roped into his and the team's loony world.  I haven't read this book since the advent of tell-all sports media like Deadspin, but you definitely felt that you getting a picture of professional sports that you had never gotten before, except maybe in Slap Shot, which I think was a movie contemporary (I'm too lazy to Google it to verify).

[DanielK]

Jay Johnstone's TEMPORARY INSANITY is also a great read for funny-but-true baseball stories.

[bookluvingbabe]

I loved Ball Four when I first read it--probably around age 12 so 1982-ish.  Some of the people referenced in the book were still active and I vaguely knew who they were.  I read it again in my early 20s and loved it even more.  I haven't read it since but it is a great read and not a long one.  I think it is now available on the Kindle.

[JBag57]

I bought it when it became available on Kindle.  Like bookluvingbabe, I first read this when I was 12 or 13, but unlike her, it was when the book was first released.  I had a hardback copy, and read it at least four times cover to cover.  Quite the eye-opening book for an early-teen baseball fan!  When I read it again recently, it lacked some of the mystique about adults that happened to be playing professional baseball, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.  As others have noted, it is a pretty fast read.

I might just go "crack the cover" of my Kindle copy tonight, now that I have been reminded about it and we are in the best part of the baseball season!