Ball Four by Jim Bouton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ball Four
Book Review: A Baseball Memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
What can I say about this book? I used to read it every summer. I read it by date (June 9, I read June 9 entry) tracked the stats etc. I first read this book in eighth grade. It didn't shatter the myth of Mickey Mantle, other ballplayers or the state of the sacred game, in general. I was a METS FAN anyway. What it did do is make light that ballplayers aren't unconditional heroes. They are human beings and rather tame compared to some of today's criminals. (I mean athletes). First time through I laughed at loud and each successive time I fondly remembered scenes painted so vividly by Bouton. For me it was like re-watching a favorite movie such as Say Anything, The Graduate or When Harry Met Sally. Ballplayers are traveling for months at a time and the same issues written here are also found in "reality shows". Ball Four was ahead of its time for this reason but also for the fact that no one was writting an insider book like this back in 1970. My generation of sports fans can quote from this book, still today.Book Review: A Groundbreaking, Entertaining, and Funny Book
Summary: 5 Stars
"Ball Four" is a diary that covers the year of a baseball player, in this case Jim Bouton, who spent the 1969 season with the expansion Seattle Pilots and then the Houston Astros. Entertaining on many levels, "Ball Four" also serves as a mirror of the times -- in the late 1960s, many established concepts and ideas, in politics, music, mass media, and sports, were being shattered. Baseball, always about five years behind the curve, was always thought of as a game that was played by wholesome, All-American men. They were our heroes. Ball Four, however, sheds new light and revealed, for the first time, that baseball players, even some of the game's superstars, are human. Bouton tells all, in, by today's standards, a tame fashion. We read about everything -- ballplayers cheating on their wives, playing with hangovers, racial problems between teammates, players taking uppers before a game, etc. Bouton is a very insightful writer and presents the material in a humorous manner, the humor, or barbs, is directed at his teammates, managers, coaches, and, in many instances, at himself.
Baseball was outraged when the book first came out in 1970. Many players and baseball executives considered Bouton a turncoat. But the years have shown that Ball Four was a groundbreaking book, one that set the standard for tell-all books to come. These other books, however, have never reached the level of excellence of Bouton's "Ball Four."
Book Review: A Throughly Entertaining Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great book to read, even if you're not a big baseball fan. Jim Bouton just has a knack for telling a great story. From reading the book, he must have been the life of the party with the team members but a pain in the butt to the team management with his opinionated views. He really gives some insight to the up-until-then unpublicized life of a major league player from the pressurized meetings with the general manager to the dugout and locker room antics. There are some funny stories but sometimes he goes off on a tangent about political views on Vietnam or racism. But overall it's a great baseball book and you'll have a hard time putting it down once you buy it.Book Review: A baseball time capsule
Summary: 5 Stars
Even though this book is 40 years old now it's still very relevant. Ball four is so different from any other baseball book of it's time. Bouton exposes baseball for what it was back in the 60's and 70's. For those older baseball fans you will remember a lot of the players Bouton talks about. Ball four serves as a time capsule. A time when owners had complete ownership of the game and the players. A time when race was still an issue in baseball. A time when baseball did everything it could to cover up it's seamy side. Ball four was written at a time when if you talked bad about baseball or when against the institution of baseball you could be banished from it (Witness Curt Flood). Bouton uncovers some things about baseball that seem fairly tame now but was big news back then.
Written when Bouton was in the minor league triple A team of the fledgling Seattle Pilots Bouton talks about the struggles of players trying to make it to the show, making the minimum wage of 10,000 a year. Hoping against hope to get the call up to the big club. Hope for one mare chance to prove themselves.
Over the years Bouton has added several addendum's to the to the book. The version I read was from 1990 but included ball five (added to the 1980 edition), he talks about his life after baseball and his short stint with the Atlanta Braves and how the financial structure of contracts changed. Ball six (written for this edition) Bouton talks about his various business adventures and inventions.
This is an easy and enjoyable read. Very insightful especially if you were a baseball fan in the 60's. The writing style is a bit dated now but would have been appropriate for the time. Still a great read. The editing of the original book is outstanding. Boutons biting criticisms of baseball back then were valid. I still think that Ball four is the bench mark for all books written about life spent in organized baseball.
Book Review: A great book for baseball fans and anyone else
Summary: 5 Stars
Even if you are not a baseball fan you can appreciate this wonderful book. Although it is centerd around the game of baseball, this is essentially a tale about young men in general. I found it hilarious and i reccomend it to everyone.