He wanted athletes to speak out for themselves, to refuse to conform, and to defy complacency. Even after the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, neither the Hall of Fame nor Major League Baseball planned any celebration.īouton-who died in 2019 at age 80-wrote Ball Four after his best days as a hard-throwing All-Star pitcher with the New York Yankees were over and he was trying to make a comeback as a knuckleball pitcher. 4 But the baseball establishment ignored the 50th anniversary of this revolutionary book. 3 Time magazine lists Ball Four as one of the 100 greatest non-fiction books of all time. 2 It was the only sports book to make the New York Public Library’s 1996 list of Books of the Century. 1 When his baseball career ended, he continued to use his celebrity as a platform against social injustice.īouton’s baseball memoir, Ball Four-published in 1970-may be the most influential sports book ever written. During his playing days, Bouton spoke out against the Vietnam War, South African apartheid, the exploitation of players by greedy owners, and the casual racism of the teams and his fellow players. Among professional team sports, baseball may be the most conservative and tradition-bound, but throughout its history, rebels and mavericks have emerged to challenge the status quo in baseball and the wider society, none more so than Bouton. Ball Four begins “I signed my contract today to play for the Seattle Pilots at a salary of $22,000 and it was a letdown because I didn’t have to bargain.Amidst the current upsurge of social activism among professional athletes, it is worth recalling the enormous contribution of Jim Bouton, one of the most politically outspoken sports figures in American history. One player hitching up his pants, saying, “I add 20 points to my average if I know how bitchin’ I look out there.”Ībove all, here was a proud man wrestling with failure.

Players shouting “Ding-dong!” when a catcher took a foul ball to his protective cup. Pound that ol’ Budweiser into you and go get ‘em tomorrow.”Īnd here was a fresh side to the grand old game - fun.

Here were veteran managers saying the stupidest things - “Attaway to stomp ‘em. Here were “heroic” New York Yankees prowling a hotel roof to “shoot beaver” by peeping into windows. The nonsense included stories every sportswriter was sworn not to tell. I’d call Shecter and say, ‘Is this interesting?’ And he’d say: ‘Are you kidding? Keep going!’” Every once in a while, I would transfer the notes to audio and send in my tapes.

“I didn’t know the value of it,” Bouton recalled.

Ball Four by Jim Bouton