Ball Four by Jim Bouton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ball Four
Book Review: Damn near perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
Jim Bouton's Ball Four has rightly been called the best sports book of all times by publications that actually matter, but I figure I'll throw my two cents in, too. In a day before an ol' ballplayer could hire a ghost and slap together some fond memories or pathetic pleas for forgiveness (hiya, Pete Rose), Bouton, making a comeback as a knuckleballer with the expansion Seattle Pilots, toted a tape recorder with him for an entire year in order to write this day-by-day account of life in the bigs. The humor is at once anecdotal and observational, and, most importantly, consistent. The Seattle Pilots were rather like the Cleveland Indians in the film Major League - a haphazard collection of rookies and cast-offs trying to make it. Of course, Major League had to have the whole underdog thing going on.
The issues that face baseball today - drugs, salaries, lack of interest by hometown fans, the Yankees being the source of all evil - are all present in Ball Four. The only part of the book that hasn't aged perfectly is the scale of the salaries - Bouton and his teammates hold out for an increase of a few thousand dollars, instead of the millions today's players make.
In summation, there is no baseball book you should read before this one, and there are precious few books you should read, period, before this one. Ball Four is in every right an American masterpiece.
Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
It was Elston HowardBook Review: Favorite Baseball book
Summary: 5 Stars
This my favorite book about baseball, and I have read quite a few. I've seen reviewers who didn't like the book because they felt Bouton trashed some people, especially Mickey Mantle. Having read this at 13, I have to say I really didn't feel much different about Mantle after I read it. I did have a lot more respect for what managers put up with and what its like to live on the edge (lets face it, most players don't live where Mantle lived.) The only thing this book does is show you that these guys are human and multi-dimensional. Of course, players don't know what its like today to try to get $28,000 instead of $26,500 or $22,500 like Bouton had to do. This book has a lot of fun in it, its not just gossip and slamming of heroes. Bouton has a good eye for talent too, spotting Mike Marshall and Lou Pinella as coming stars earlier their careers. For those of you who didn't like it, I was just say look up Joe Schultz favorite multi-syllable one word comment and try it out in all of its variations.Book Review: Fun for fans
Summary: 5 Stars
This book had me laughing out loud several times. Even though it was written about 30 years ago, the baseball experiences still ring true. Bouton has a great sense of humor, and the anecdotes about both stars and players you never heard of are a treat. I used this book to get me through the last off-season, and it was a lot of fun to read.Book Review: Funny inside observations on the game of baseball
Summary: 4 Stars
I loved this book. Jim Bouton is a funny man and his witty observations on behind-the-scenes baseball are fantastic. It's definitely a baseball classic. Enjoy the baseball and try to ignore Bouton's politics. Some of his political pronouncements are just downright silly.