RIP Jim Bouton, 1939-2019

[G-Fafif]

We lose the greatest author who ever pitched, at 80.

[RealityChuck]

I'd argue it was Jim Brosnan, but Bouton was a great baseball personality. Sad news.



Trivia: Bouton's most successful pitch was when he pitched Big League Chew to the Wrigley Company.

[Frayed Knot]

BAM!

I knew he had had a stroke in recent years which affected his speech. Hadn't heard much since.



Fifty years after the season that inspired BALL FOUR; the book was released in early 1970

An outspoken ballplayer when most were expected 'not to say shit even if they had a mouthful', (a phrase I likely first read in that book) and a 1960's leftist in a world up til then

dominated by country boys with crewcuts. That that kind of stuff made him fall out of favor with the very corporate Yanquis isn't surprising, nor was his friction with the stuffy

and lawyerly Bowie Kuhn.



I mostly missed his pitching career as his best years were prior to my awareness and the time he did have was then marred by injuries followed by exile in Seattle. But mostly I

remember was a treat -- note that there's no h between the t and the r Bowie -- it was to read BALL FOUR as a young teen. It didn't make me think less of ballplayers, it made

them human and funny, or at least a little bit goofy and maybe not always the sharpest knives in the drawer. And that's not a bad thing.



The other memory I have is of the kick-in-the-gut Father's Day column in the NY Times penned by his oldest son (w/o Jim's knowledge) about how it was long past time for the Yanx to

put aside whatever 'insult' they felt from his non-conformity or his non-worshipping of Mickey Mantle, by taking him off their blacklist for the team's celebrated annual Old Timer's Day.

The prompt for the letter was the death of Jim's daughter/Mike Bouton's sister several months earlier in a car crash. In an era where news concerning a celebrity relative didn't fly

around the world in half a day, the revealing of Laurie Bouton's death was a shock to most of us who knew her only through small mentions in the book as a feisty (6 y/o?) girl trying

to elbow her way into the world amid a jock father and two older brothers. Apparently she was exactly the same during her brief time as an adult.

The letter, which occupied a large portion of the front page of the Sunday NYT Sports Section, achieved its goal. Bouton's phone number was suddenly found by the MFY PR department

and he was invited to the next OTD where he received a rousing ovation -- in addition to the book there was also the matter of him winning 37 games plus two more in the World Series

in 1963 & 1964 and him being a very popular player in his time. The ballpark, IIRC, didn't fall due to his presence.

[MFS62]

I liked him because he was flipping a gigantic middle finger at the staid pomposity of the MFYs.

I also liked his description of his time with the Seattle Pilots.

RIP, Jim.



Later

[Guest 41Forever]

Best baseball book of the Pre-Prince-Springer Era.

[bmfc1]

I remember when my father brought home "Ball Four" and I laughed at "beaver hunting" and "shitfuck". We learned from Bouton that ballplayers are real people and he changed sportswriting forever. RIP.



Did you know that there was a "Ball Four" sitcom? Here's Harry Chapin's theme song: [YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/zHnmmMzvmqohttps://youtu.be/zHnmmMzvmqo[/YOUTUBE]

[MFS62]

I laughed at ... and "shitfuck".

I still use "Joe Schultz" when I want to use that word.

Later

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

=41Forever post_id=15631 time=1562808675 user_id=69]
Best baseball book of the Pre-Prince-Springer Era.

[Chad ochoseis]

The obits are all along the lines of "Ex-Yankee Jim Bouton, who exposed Mickey Mantle as a party animal and noted that ballplayers sometimes take amphetamines, died yesterday at age 80."



This is like remembering George Harrison for his career with the Traveling Wilburys.

[Lefty Specialist]

A book that changed my life. I worshipped the ground baseball players walked on until I picked up a copy at age 13. The scales fell from my eyes when I finished that book. It probably made me a more cynical teenager, but also made me less susceptible to bullshit.



May your cap always fly off, Jim Bouton.

[seawolf17]

Lefty Specialist wrote: A book that changed my life. I worshipped the ground baseball players walked on until I picked up a copy at age 13. The scales fell from my eyes when I finished that book. It probably made me a more cynical teenager, but also made me less susceptible to bullshit. May your cap always fly off, Jim Bouton.

Absolutely, this. Ball Four, If At First, and the first two Ron Luciano books were baseball literary royalty to me as a kid.



Also one of my March 8 birthday buddies.

[Frayed Knot]

http://www.jimbouton.com/nyt6_21_98.htmlMichael Bouton's column



It was June of 1998; Mantle was dead by this point, Yogi was absent due to his feud with George, and Bouton had been retired for more than a quarter century save for a brief five game

comeback in 1978 w/the Braves at the age of 39. He was a full 30 years removed from his last game as a Yanqui and had been barred from their Old Timer's Day for that same amount

of time - OTD being a much bigger deal then as compared to now and a bigger deal for that team than for others.

At some point over the next several weeks the NYY front office managed to find the phone number they had apparently misplaced for three decades and extended an invite.

[Edgy MD]

Chad ochoseis wrote: The obits are all along the lines of "Ex-Yankee Jim Bouton, who exposed Mickey Mantle as a party animal and noted that ballplayers sometimes take amphetamines, died yesterday at age 80." This is like remembering George Harrison for his career with the Traveling Wilburys.

I would have went with SHITFUCK! JIM BOUTON IS DEAD!