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About an hour ago
When I was 10 years old, I loved baseball.
Then I read a book about baseball. This book did not affect how I felt about baseball. But that changed my life.
The book called "Ball Four". Its author, Jim Bouton, died Wednesday at 80 years.
There has never been a book like "Ball Four". A 1969 season newspaper from Button, it was a true baseline talk behind the scenes: Drinking. Amphetamines, a / k / a "greenies". Groupies, a / k / a "baseball years". Adultery. Voyeurism through the windows of the hotel or the holes drilled on the back of the canoe. Players being deceived financially. The effect on families. Mickey Mantle acting reflex (and alcoholism).
At the time, many thought that "Ball Four" put baseball in a bad light. Bowie Kuhn, then Commissioner, excoriated the book. The players had the feeling that Button had betrayed the secret society of baseball. Members of the media were given a free tour of the teams they covered, so they became infatuated. New York sports journalist Dick Young called Bouton a "social leper".
But all that "Ball Four" did was to remove the players from their pedestals, where they should never have been in the first place. The humanized MLB book. "Ball Four" was absolutely true and remains a monument to the value of direct reports.
To go forward with what I ended up doing, "Ball Four" was an invaluable help.
"Ball Four" did not spoil the baseball. He improved baseball.
Button was the ideal author for such a book.
He had won 20 games and participated in the World Series with the New York Yankees. But in 1969, Button was 30 years old and was barely clinging to the expansion of the Seattle Pilots. His arm had been touched and he had reinvented himself as a knuckleball thrower. Button had a perfect and balanced perspective.
Button then wrote more books. "I'm glad you did not take it personally" summed up the reaction to "Ball Four" and was also brilliant. Button has frequently updated 'Ball Four', publishing several revised editions.
Button was also a sportsman in New York, one of the first in this profession to use the humor to not take things seriously. It's no exaggeration to say that Button made Keith Olbermann possible. In fact, Olbermann says that.
Button played in a 1976 CBS sitcom inspired by (and named) "Ball Four". It lasted five episodes. It was too family friendly.
Bouton was an investor in Big League Chew, shredded bubblegum that looks like chewing tobacco and is sold in a similar pouch. Button (like all players of his day) had to fight hard for huge sums. He earned $ 22,000 in 1969. If bubblegum was to be paid, huzzah.
Button was reconciled with Mantle shortly before his death in 1995. He reconciled with the Yankees and received a huge standing ovation during the Yankee Stadium's Old Players Day in 1998. Few People in attendance remembered Button, the thrower. They applauded Button, the author.
I've been lucky enough to have Button a few times on my radio show.
Button has always been the activist. He inherited when I suggested that a salary cap could help baseball: "Why should a player's earning potential be limited?" Why should homeowners be protected against themselves? Button was centered on the players.
Button was a true revolutionary, but also a real baseball player.
Button and "Ball Four" have helped make me what I am today. I would like to believe that Jim would have had a kick to say that.
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