Book Review: Jim Bouton’s Ball Four
This book is a funny, impactful, and revelatory snapshot into a MLB player’s life and experiences in 1969 and beyond. The overall story left me both thinking and smiling a ton.
I’ve heard about Ball Four for a long time as a baseball fan. My initial impression was that it mainly discussed the more scandalous elements within baseball. To my surprise it covered a lot more than that — it had a wide coverage: authenticity, self-advocacy, humor, and humanity in general all playing an important role in the larger story within.
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The most crucial aspect of Ball Four in my opinion is Bouton’s thoughts on the people he associated with and their lives. Generally he has very comical but honest takes throughout the book. This leads him to butt heads — but it also confirms his values and makes the stories that much more interesting. A quote within the book itself about the text is that Ball Four is “funny because it was true”. This captures the feeling exactly. Bouton praises authenticity and laments the deification that players enjoyed in that era. Ballplayers are clearly not perfect human beings. The true risk of overlooking that humanity they share can only take away from their personality and lives.
Bouton also makes a ton of fascinating observations about baseball play but also life at-large, ranging from intellectual/political thoughts of the day to the unfair finances of baseball. Beyond some discussion of Berkeley (gotta shoutout my hometown!) and the racial politics during that era he closely covers the self-advocacy tied in with contracts at the time. Ballplayers of the time were stuck with a reserve clause and miserly contracts at the time. The players (and frequently employees in general) are rarely compensated adequately and management typically does its best to keep that from becoming a topic of conversation. Many of these discussions are present in Ball Four and in pretty funny and genuinely righteous perspective. Once this conversation begins it’s hard to stop — as shown by the now very strong MLB player’s union, perhaps partially due to the book!
The creation of this book absolutely led to a pariah status for Bouton for a significant period of time. It was certainly a commercial success but many within the baseball establishment, press, and even many players repudiated it strongly. In the long run Bouton was vindicated and allowed to rejoin and connect with the MLB and press but the impact of the book kept this opportunity on hold for a long time.
A personal takeaway from this book is tied with the current state of baseball and the world. MLB is on the path to an almost certain lockout caused by billionaire owners crying poor in 2027 and perhaps beyond. The current administration/regime in charge of the USA and many nations around the world are presently trying to push back progress made in terms of better contracts for workers, racial equality (supported by Bouton as well) and progressive policies in general. These actions and policies favoring societal backslide are shrouded with an often thin veil of falsehoods and hatred that typically favor the powerful and their desire for endlessly absurd levels of wealth.
Bouton’s perspective on contracts leads to a clear point that dialogue, communication, and some humor can lead to an easier path to advocate not only for yourself but also lead to other friend’s successes. With our world and society facing the risk of becoming less and less connected due to a huge variety of factors (some technological, others cultural) an authentic Bouton approach might just be the best on an individual level. For me, one of the most valuable moments in Ball Four occurs early on when Bouton shares that he wishes the team could celebrate and remember the players who were heading off the baseball club — immediately team non-entities due to their demotion to the minor leagues. This desire for humanity, respect, and teamwork matters and should be a staple in our lives and world and can only lead to better things.
