James Alan Bouton (born March 8, 1939 in
NewarkBrick City redirects here. For the township in Ocean County, see Brick Township, New Jersey.Newark is the largest city in New Jersey, and the county seat of Essex County. Newark has a population of 281,402, making it the largest municipality in New Jersey and the 65th largest city in the U.S...
,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is a former
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
player, and
authorA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
of the controversial baseball book
Ball FourBall Four is a book written by former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Bouton in . The book talks about Bouton's career with the New York Yankees, the Houston Astros, and primarily his season with the Seattle Pilots...
, which was a combination diary of his season and memoir of his years with the
New York YankeesThe New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division...
,
Seattle PilotsThe Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
, and
Houston AstrosThe Houston Astros is a major league baseball team located in Houston, Texas. The Astros are a member of the Central Division. From 2000 to the present, the Astros have played their home games at Minute Maid Park . The Astros joined MLB under the name Colt .45s along with the New York Mets in...
.
Amateur and college career
While attending
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Bouton was
nicknameA nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, which may sometimes be used simply for convenience A nickname (also spelled "nick name") is a descriptive name...
d "Warm-Up Bouton" because he never got to play in a game, serving much of his time as a benchwarmer.
Jerry ColangeloJerry Colangelo in Chicago Heights, Illinois, is an American businessman and sports mogul.He is the former owner of the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball...
, future owner of the
Arizona DiamondbacksThe Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field...
and
Phoenix SunsThe Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Their home arena is the US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix at Copper Square.The Suns have been generally...
, was the ace of that Bloom High School staff. In summer leagues, Bouton did not throw particularly hard, but got batters out by mixing conventional stuff with the
knuckleballA knuckleball is a baseball pitch with an erratic, unpredictable motion. The pitch is thrown so as to minimize the spin of the ball in flight. This causes vortices over the stitched seams of the baseball during its trajectory, which in turn can cause the pitch to change direction—and even...
that he had experimented with since childhood. Bouton played baseball while he attended
Western Michigan UniversityWestern Michigan University is a public university established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo. When the school first opened, it was known as the Western State Normal School, but was renamed Western State Teachers College in 1927 and Western Michigan College of Education in 1941. On February 26, 1957...
before he played professionally. He was a member of
Delta Sigma PhiDelta Sigma Phi is a fraternity established at the City College of New York in 1899 and is a charter member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference. The headquarters of the fraternity is the Taggart Mansion located in Indianapolis, Indiana...
Fraternity at WMU.
Professional career
Bouton started his major league career in with the Yankees, where his tenacity earned him the nickname "Bulldog." He also came to be known for his cap flying off his head at the completion of his delivery to the plate, as well as for his unusual use of the uniform number 56, a number usually assigned in spring training to players designated for the minor leagues (Bouton later explained that he had been assigned the number in 1962 when he was promoted to the Yankees, and wanted to keep it as a reminder of how close he had come to not making the ball club. He wore number 56 throughout most of his major league career). Bouton appeared in 36 games during the 1962 season, including 16 starts, and had a win-loss record of 7-7. While he did not play in the Yankees' 1962
World SeriesThe World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball...
victory over the
San Francisco GiantsThe San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California who currently play in the National League West Division. One of the oldest baseball teams, the Giants hold the honor of having won the most games of any team in the history of baseball...
, he had been slated to start game 7. When the game was postponed a day because of rain, though, star
Ralph TerryRalph Willard Terry is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees , Kansas City Athletics , Cleveland Indians and New York Mets...
pitched instead. In Bouton's subsequent two seasons, he won 21 and 18 games and appeared in the 1963 All Star Game. He was 2-1 with a 1.48 ERA in World Series play.
Bouton's frequent use by the Yankees during these years (in 1964 he led the league with 37 starts) probably contributed to his subsequent arm troubles. In , an arm injury slowed his fastball and ended his status as a pitching phenomenon. Relegated mostly to bullpen duty, Bouton began to throw the
knuckleballA knuckleball is a baseball pitch with an erratic, unpredictable motion. The pitch is thrown so as to minimize the spin of the ball in flight. This causes vortices over the stitched seams of the baseball during its trajectory, which in turn can cause the pitch to change direction—and even...
again, in an effort to lengthen his career. By , Bouton was a reliever for the minor league
Seattle AngelsThe Seattle Rainiers, originally named the Seattle Indians and also known as the Seattle Angels, were a minor league baseball team in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1906, and from 1919 though 1968...
.
In October 1968, he joined a committee of American sportsmen who traveled to the
1968 Summer OlympicsThe 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
, in
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
, to protest the involvement of apartheid
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
. Around the same time, sportswriter Leonard Shecter—who had befriended Bouton during his time with the Yankees—approached him with the idea of writing and publishing a season-long diary. Bouton, who had taken some notes during the 1968 season after having a similar idea, readily agreed.
This was by no means the first baseball diary.
Cincinnati RedsThe Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. They are members of the Central Division of the National League....
pitcher
Jim BrosnanJames Patrick Brosnan was a Major League Baseball player from 1954 and 1956 through 1963. He was a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox...
had written two such books, about his 1959 and 1961 seasons, called
The Long Season and
Pennant Race respectively. Those books were much more open than the typical G-rated and ghost-written athletes' "diaries", a literary technique dating at least as far back as
Christy MathewsonChristopher "Christy" Mathewson , nicknamed "Big Six", "The Christian Gentleman", or "Matty", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball...
. Brosnan had also encountered some resistance. Joe Garagiola made a point in his own autobiography,
Baseball Is a Funny Game, to criticize Brosnan for writing them. But Bouton's effort would become much more widely known, debated and discussed.
Retirement
Bouton retired midway through the season after the Astros sent him down to the minor leagues. He immediately became a local sports anchor for New York station
WABC-TVWABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. WABC-TV is best known in broadcasting circles for its highly successful version of the Eyewitness News format and for its morning show Live with Regis and Kelly,...
, as part of
Eyewitness NewsEyewitness News is a name used by local television newscasts, widely used in different markets across the United States. It is also the name of a very popular music package offered by Gari Communications.-Origins:...
; he later held the same job for
WCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City and owned by CBS Corporation. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center in midtown Manhattan and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building...
. Bouton also became an actor, playing the part of "Terry Lennox" in
Robert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective...
's
The Long GoodbyeThe Long Goodbye , directed by Robert Altman, is a contemporary film noir adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s elegiac novel The Long Goodbye , the screenplay is by Leigh Brackett, who adapted The Big Sleep for the 1946 film...
(1973), plus the lead role in the 1976
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
television series
Ball Four, which was loosely adapted from the book. The TV show was canceled after a few episodes. By this time a cult audience saw
Ball Four as a candid and comic portrayal of the ups and downs of baseball life. Bouton went on the college lecture circuit, delivering humorous talks on his experiences.
Bouton and his first wife, Bobbie (they divorced in the '80s) had two children together, Michael and Laurie (who was killed in a car accident at age 31 in 1997). They adopted a Korean orphan, Kyong Jo, who was renamed David at the boy's own request. Bouton's ex-wife teamed up with Nancy Marshall, the former wife of pitcher
Mike MarshallMichael Grant "Iron Mike" Marshall is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for 14 seasons for nine different teams, including multi-year stints with the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins.Marshall won the National League Cy Young Award in as a member of the...
, to write a tell-all book called
Home Games. Bouton is now married to Paula Kurman. .
Return
The urge to play baseball would not leave him. He launched his comeback bid with the Class A
Portland MavericksThe Portland Mavericks were a minor league baseball team in Portland, Oregon, United States. They began play in the Class A Northwest League in 1973 after the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League moved to Spokane, Washington. The Mavericks were owned by ex-minor league player and television...
in 1975, compiling a 5-1 record. He skipped the 1976 season to work on the TV series, but returned to the diamond in when
Bill VeeckWilliam Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his flamboyant publicity stunts, and the innovations he brought to the league during his ownership of the Cleveland...
signed him to a minor league contract with the
Chicago White SoxThe Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
. Bouton was winless for a White Sox farm club; a stint in the Mexican League and a return to Portland followed.
Bouton's quest to return to the majors might have ended there, but in
Ted TurnerRobert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable television network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
signed him to a contract with the
Atlanta BravesThe Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Braves have played in Turner Field....
. After a successful season with the Savannah Braves (AA), he was called up to join Atlanta's rotation in September, and compiled a 1-3 record in five starts. His winding return to the majors was chronicled in a book by sportswriter
Terry PlutoTerry Pluto is an award-winning sportswriter who primarily writes columns for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and formerly for the Akron Beacon Journal about Cleveland sports and religion. He has been named Ohio Sportswriter of the Year eight times...
,
The Greatest Summer. Bouton also detailed his comeback in a 10th anniversary re-release of his first book, titled
Ball Four Plus Ball Five, as well as adding a
Ball Six, updating the stories of the players in
Ball Four, for the 20th anniversary edition. All were included (in 2000) as
Ball Four: The Final Pitch, along with a new coda that detailed the death of his daughter and his reconciliation with the Yankees.
After his return to the majors, Bouton continued to pitch at the semi-pro level for a
Bergen County, New JerseyBergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 884,118, growing to 904,037 as of the Census Bureau's 2006 estimate. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
team called the Teaneck Merchants. He also pitched for several other teams in the Metropolitan Baseball League in northern New Jersey.
Once his baseball career ended a second time, Bouton became one of the inventors of "
Big League ChewBig League Chew is a brand of bubble gum that is shredded and packaged in an aluminum foil pouch. It was created by Portland Mavericks left-handed pitcher Rob Nelson, and pitched to the Wrigley Company by former New York Yankee All-Star Jim Bouton, a Maverick teammate of Nelson's, as a fun...
," a shredded
bubblegumBubblegum is a type of chewing gum especially designed to blow a bubble out of the mouth.Bubblegum is available in many different colors and flavors. The most common flavor is the distinctive one also known as "bubblegum", which is traditionally colored a light shade of pink.Bubblegum tends to be...
designed to resemble chewing
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
and sold in a tobacco-like pouch. He also co-authored
Strike Zone (a baseball novel) and edited an anthology about managers, entitled
I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play BadI Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad is a collection of essays, short stories and articles about baseball, combined with comments and articles written by Ball Four author and former major league pitcher Jim Bouton.- The book's creation :...
. His most recent book is
Foul Ball (published 2003) a non-fiction account of his (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to save
Wahconah ParkWahconah Park is a city-owned baseball park located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and nestled in a working class neighborhood. One of the last remaining ballparks in the United States with a wooden grandstand, it was constructed in 1919 and seats 4,500. The stadium has been home to the Pittsfield...
, a historic
minor league baseballMinor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in North America that compete at levels below that of Major League Baseball. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses, and many are members of Minor League Baseball, an umbrella organization for leagues...
stadium in
Pittsfield, MassachusettsPittsfield is the largest city in and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
.
Vindication and reconciliation
Although Bouton had never been officially declared
persona non grata by the Yankees or any other team as a result of Ball Fours revelations, he was excluded from most baseball-related functions, including Old-Timers' Games. It was rumored that
Mickey MantleMickey Charles Mantle was an American baseball player who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974....
himself had told the Yankees that he would never attend an Old-Timers' Game to which Bouton was invited (a charge Mantle subsequently denied, especially during a lengthy answering-machine message to Bouton after Mantle's son Billy had died of cancer in 1994 - Mantle was acknowledging a condolence card Bouton had sent). Things changed in June 1998, when Bouton's oldest son Michael wrote an eloquent Father's Day open letter to the Yankees which was published in the New York Times
. In it, Michael described the agony of his father following the August 1997 death of Michael's sister Laurie at age 31. By juxtaposing the story of Yogi BerraLawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. He played almost his entire career for the New York Yankees and was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1972...
's self-imposed exile with that of his father's de facto banishment, Michael created a scenario where not only were the Yankees placed under public pressure to invite his father back, but the article paved the road to reconciliation between Yankee owner
George SteinbrennerGeorge Michael Steinbrenner III is an American billionaire businessman, and owner and the former principal executive of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. His outspokenness and role in driving up player salaries have made him one of the sport's most controversial figures...
and Berra.
In July 1998, Jim Bouton, sporting his familiar number 56, received a standing ovation when he took the mound at Yankee Stadium. He has since become a regular fixture at Yankee Old-Timer's Games.
Writings
- Ball Four has been through numerous significantly revised editions, the most recent being Ball Four: The Final Pitch, Bulldog Publishing. (April 2001), ISBN 0-9709117-0-X.
- I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally
- I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad -- edited and annotated by Bouton, compiled by Neil Offen.
- Foul Ball, Bulldog Publishing. (June 2003), ISBN 0-9709117-1-8.
- Strike Zone, Signet Books. (March 1995), ISBN 0-451-18334-7 (with Eliot Asinof
Eliot Asinof was an American writer of fiction and nonfiction best known for his writing about baseball. His most famous book was Eight Men Out, a nonfiction reconstruction of the 1919 Black Sox scandal.-Biography:...
).
Miscellanea
Bouton was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972 for George McGovern, according to the film "
One Bright Shining MomentOne Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern is a documentary film directed by Stephen Vittoria. It chronicles the unsuccessful 1972 presidential campaign of progressive Democrat George McGovern....
".
Quotes
- "You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."
- "This winter (1977) I'm working out every day, throwing against a wall. I'm 11-0 against the wall."
- "For a hundred years the owners screwed the players. For 25 years the players have screwed the owners - they've got 75 years to go."
All quotes may be found in Ball Four: The Final Pitch
External links