FanPost

Off Day OT: Re-Reading 'Ball Four'; "The Handkerchief Is By Christian Dior"


When I was a little kid my favorite player was Mickey Mantle. I make no bones about this; I loved the guy and revered all the press, baseball cards, commercials (Maypo, anyone?) and television appearances-I didn't carry around a lucite covered card like Bob Costas does to this day but what the hell? Game of The Week had Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean who were just as country as I was or maybe more so. My first recollection of the World Series was the rain delayed (many times) set in 1962 and the lump in my throat when Willie McCovey lined to Bobby Richardson for the final out.

Being a youngster on a central Illinois farm at this time I had no idea of the razzing I would receive on the school bus when the Yankees would lose both to the Dodgers in 1963 and especially to the Cardinals in 1964. Are these fellow students stupid? Who told them to follow these teams? The truth lay in their father's fandom which was passed on to them. My dad was not a baseball fan but my mom's father was which I learned much later in life.

In 1963 on Game Of The Week I discovered another phenomenon-Jim Bouton. He threw a lot of fastballs. And the most unusual thing about this was that his hat would fall off on just about every pitch. Ok, not every pitch but about 20 times a game. I used to laugh and laugh about this in front of the TV. When you live 3 miles west of a town of 850 in the middle of bleeping nowhere you have to manufacture your fun.

In 1964 my dad surprised me with tickets to my first major league game: Yankees vs. White Sox at the old Comiskey. It was a great treat in the middle of summer on a Saturday afternoon. I was able to see my heroes against the White Sox (who really meant nothing to me) and was hoping to see Bouton pitch. It wasn't meant to be as I was treated to a double shutout between Gary Peters and Whitey Ford. The stands seemed to be half empty and I vividly recall the White Sox cutting down a run in the top of the 10th and how loud the crowd was. I had heard loud noises before this-corn and bean combines; grain elevators and the like but the fans were almost scary. The Yanks pushed across a run in the 11th.(Mantle was pinch-run for; this was before I had any idea about his infirmities or carousing: Why are they taking him out, Dad?) After which the Chairman Of The Board proceded to throw his 11th shutout inning.

Bouton beat Juan Pizarro 2-0 the next day (I think) when I was listening on the radio-you couldn't see the hat falling off but you knew it was happening.

And just like that the Yankees dynasty died. My family moved to a booming metropolis 12 miles down the road that had cable TV. The next year I discovered WGN, Orion Samuelson, Ray Rayner and Cubs baseball. Not specifically in that order; but school was much better if you had seen Foghorn Leghorn and that dawg tangle before you left on the bus.

About four or five years later I was browsing the local book store and I see a new hardcover book written by Jim Bouton called "Ball Four". I read a few pages and frankly was taken aback at its confessional nature. I thought then that this was a good place to spend some of my paper route money and walked out with probably the first hardcover book I had ever purchased.

I must have read and re-read the book 5 times over the next week. Could not get enough of it. The cussing and Budweiser pounding. The winning and losing. People moving up and down on the Major/Minor League food chain. It was a real eye opener for a 13 year old and sort of a companion volume to Jerry Kramer's 'Instant Replay" released around the same time.

I looked around the other day for my original copy of the book but could not find it. I had moved from central Illinois to Las Vegas in 1997 and must have left it there or thrown it out. So I did what everyone does-I found an autographed copy with all the updates on eBay for a reasonable price. Scarfed it up on a Buy It Now and waited a few days for it to arrive.

And I re-read the whole thing. To me, it's still as interesting as it was in 1970. It's so unusual to laugh out loud reading a book by yourself-and I did this multiple times. The secondary title at the top of the page refers to Dick Stuart aka "Dr. Strangeglove" of the Boston Red Sox and what he said to the team after he was about two and a half hours late to a morale meeting ostensibly about him. I laughed and laughed for at least 3 minutes.

The added updates flesh out the story with the players who were Bouton's friends. I find it astonishing that Bowie Kuhn tried to get Bouton to recant everything. Those were the days I guess-Bouton, Curt Flood and his challenge to the reserve clause, etc.

More heartbreaking are the passages devoted to his daughter who died in a car accident at the age of 31 in the epilogue. His reconciliation with Mickey Mantle and the Yankee organization (organized by his son in an open letter to the New York Times) are also quite moving.

If you haven't read the book, pick up a copy or read it on your device of choice. I f you have read it please share your memories.

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