Belated Happy Birthday, Jim Bouton

Just as good a spring as Bouton, biotches!

 

You're correct. I think one of the many things that angered people about "Ball Four" was Bouton pointed out that guys liked to fool around on the road and never hinted that he was an active participant. He's always said he never used names in the incriminating stories, but he kind of implicated everyone that way.

"Home Games" helps fill out the picture.

I loved the book in 1971. It helped revive my interest in baseball, which was sagging at the time. I still love the book. But after years of covering baseball, I have to admit my perspective has changed a bit and I can better understand why a lot of people were pissed off about it.

 

I'll definitely look for Home Games.

As for "... Personally," how could it not be a letdown? Ball Four has to be as hard of an act to follow as there ever was in the history of literature.

Salinger knew to quit after "Catcher in the Rye." Bouton didn't know to quit. I guess I'm glad he didn't because I enjoyed "... Personally," even if it wasn't nearly as good as "Ball Four."

 

How could I not read the followup, the title is a gift from my favorite sportswriter, Dick Young.

 

Exactly, Smasher.
Thank you.

 

Yep. He's pretty involved in vintage baseball these days. And in helping to restore one of the oldest surviving ballparks in the country, in Pittsfield, Mass.

 

Young called Bouton "a social leper." It was off the mark, but inspired nonetheless.

Wonder if CBS saved the tapes from the dreadful 1976 "Ball Four" sitcom?

 

It did suck (no way Bouton should have starred in it), but at least it had the cojones to have an episode on beaver shooting.