īouton disclosed how rampant the use of amphetamines or "greenies" was among players. Bouton detailed his unsatisfactory relationships with teammates and management alike, his sparring sessions with Pilots manager Joe Schultz and pitching coach Sal Maglie, and the lies and minor cheating that has gone on in baseball. Bouton wrote with candor about the anxiety he felt over his pitching and his role on the team. The book chronicled the 1969 season, which was the Seattle Pilots' only operating season, though Bouton was traded to Houston late in the year.īall Four described a side of baseball that was previously unseen by writing about the obscene jokes, drunken womanizing, and routine drug use among players, including by Bouton himself. Bouton, who had taken some notes during the 1968 season after having a similar idea, readily agreed. Shecter approached him with the idea of writing and publishing a season-long diary. Summary īouton befriended sportswriter Leonard Shecter during his time with the Yankees. It was also included on Time's list of the 100 greatest non-fiction books published since the magazine's founding in 1923. It is considered a landmark in American sports literature, and was the only sports-themed book included on the New York Public Library's 1996 list of Books of the Century, under the category "Popular Culture & Mass Entertainment". The book was controversial for divulging many unflattering facts about the sport and its players baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn attempted to discredit it and label it as detrimental to the sport. Bouton also recounts much of his earlier baseball career, spent mainly with the New York Yankees. The book is a diary of Bouton's 1969 season, spent with the Seattle Pilots and then the Houston Astros following a late-season trade. Ball Four: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues is a book by Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Bouton, edited by Leonard Shecter and first published in 1970.
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