Ball FourBall Four
the Final Pitch
Title rated 4 out of 5 stars, based on 59 ratings(59 ratings)
eBook, 2012
Current format, eBook, 2012, , Available.eBook, 2012
Current format, eBook, 2012, , Available. Offered in 0 more formatsWhen Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a "social leper" for having violated the "sanctity of the clubhouse." Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn't true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn't read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Most everyone else, however, loved Ball Four. Fans liked discovering that athletes were real people--often wildly funny people. Many readers said it gave them strength to get through a difficult period in their lives. Serious critics called it an important document. In 1999 Ball Four was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the "Books of the Century." And Time magazine chose it as one of the "100 Greatest Non-Fiction" books. Besides changing the image of athletes, the book played a role in the economic revolution in pro sports. In 1975, Ball Four was accepted as legal evidence against the owners at the arbitration hearing, which lead to free agency in baseball and, by extension, to other sports. Today Ball Four has taken on another role--as a time capsule of life in the sixties. This ebook version of Ball Four includes the first edition, the 1980, 1990 and 2000 updates, and 138 photos.
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- Bouton, Jim
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- [United States] : RosettaBooks : Made available through hoopla, 2012.
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