Yankees pitcher and ‘Ball Four’ author Bouton, 80, dies
New York — Ex-Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton was a 20-game winner, won two World Series games, spent 10 years in the big leagues — and made a bigger impact with a pen in his hand than a baseball.
The author of the groundbreaking hardball tell-all “Ball Four” died Wednesday following a battle with a brain disease linked to dementia, according to friends of the family. The Newark, N.J., native was in the Massachusetts home he shared with his wife Paula Kurman after weeks of hospice care. He was 80.
Bouton, who made his Major League debut in 1962, threw so hard in his early years that his cap routinely flew off his head as he released the ball.
By the time he reached the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969, the sore-armed Bouton reinvented himself as a knuckleballer.
Bouton spent that season collecting quotes, notes and anecdotes about life in the big leagues for his acclaimed book “Ball Four.” Released amid a storm of controversy, the account of Bouton's tumultuous year was the only sports book cited when the New York Public Library drew up its list of the best books of the 20th century.
In “Ball Four,” Bouton exposed in great detail the carousing of Yankees legend Mickey Mantle, the widespread use of stimulants (known as “greenies”) in Major League locket rooms, and the spectacularly foul mouth of Seattle Pilots manager Joe Schultz.
“Amphetamines improved my performance about five percent,” Bouton once observed. “Unfortunately, in my case that wasn't enough.”
But the book caused most of his old teammates to ostracize him, and he was blackballed from Yankees events for nearly 50 years until the team made amends last season by inviting Bouton to the annual Old-Timers Day event, where he was given an emotional standing ovation.
Bouton, across his 10-year pro career, posted a mediocre lifetime record of 62-63, with an ERA of 3.57.