Jim Bouton

The diary of a major league baseball player during one season reveals the game's venal and foolish aspects

Ball Four

Dana Kraft

A fun read even though it's a bit too long. It took a bit to get into for me as I started to learn more about the characters. I'm clearly partisan but it sure sounds like the Astros were a much more fun team to be around than the Pilots. I could read stories about Joe Morgan discussing the difference between a curve ball and a mother***ng curve ball all day, but there are too few of those in here. This seems like one of those books that inspired so many copycats that it doesn't seem as groundbreaking as it was at the time.

Max L

Jeff Brown 

Jeremy Warren Mills

Tara King

The beloved baseball classic now available in paperback, with a new foreword from Jim Bouton's wife, Paula Kurman. When Ball Four was first published in 1970, it hit the sports world like a lightning bolt. Commissioners, executives, and players were shocked. Sportswriters called author Jim Bouton a traitor and "social leper." Commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force him to declare the book untrue. Fans, however, loved the book. And serious critics called it an important social document. Following his death, Bouton's landmark book has remained popular, and his legacy lives on through its many readers, including those who don't ordinarily follow baseball. For the updated edition of this historic book, Bouton wrote a new epilogue detailing his perspective on how baseball has changed since the last edition was released.

Ball Four

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