He acts surprised that a good number of his teammates were less than pleased with the book, but I’m not sure what he expected. It is also fun because Bouton tells what had happened to him, particularly how the book turned him into a pariah, denigrated by baseball authorities and many of the players. Only four of the 70 or more players who were on the Seattle and Houston rosters during the 1969 season were still playing in 1981. The 1981 epilogue is fun because Bouton reports on what happened to his teammates on the Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros - many of whom were distinctive characters in “Ball Four” - since the book’s publication. This version, published by Bouton himself in 2000, includes the original book, edited by Leonard Shecter, plus epilogues from 1981 (the “Ball Five” chapter), 1990 (“Ball Six”) and 2000 (“Ball Seven”). And still potent enough to make a baseball fan squirm. More than 40 years after it was first published, Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four,” his diary of his 1969 season with two major league teams, remains eminently readable and entertaining.
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