Why am I passionate about this?
My father used to take me to watch the Twins play at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, a twenty-minute drive from our house in suburban Minneapolis. As soon as the Twins announced their schedule each year, he would buy tickets for the doubleheaders. Our favorites were the twilight doubleheaders, when we watched one game by daylight, and the other under the night sky. Baseball was pure to me then: played outdoors on real grass. Seated beside my dad during those twin bills, I felt his love for the game seep into me and take root. All these years later, almost two decades after his death, that love remains strong.
John's book list on stories about a single baseball season
Why did John love this book?
I liked this book when I read it as a kid. I loved it when I went back to it as an adult, when I was able to better appreciate Bouton’s irreverence, character insights, and skewering of authority.
There’s a reason this memoir of his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots has become a classic. Bouton holds nothing back in letting us know what it’s like to be a professional ballplayer from the inside.
4 authors picked Ball Four as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
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…