Ball Four: The Final Pitch - Hardcover

Bouton, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 097091170X ISBN 13: 9780970911704

Publisher: Bulldog Pub, 2001

Synopsis

Ball Four is a baseball classic, a number one bestseller when it was published; it still is in demand throughout the U.S. Now in a new updated hardcover edition, Ball Four will reach a whole new generation of avid baseball fans. In fact, Ball Four has been selected by the NY Public Library as one of the Books of the Century. And David Halberstam writes: a book deep in the American Vein, so deep in fact that is by no means a sports book. Bouton has written a baseball book about the reality of the game. Thirty years after its publication, it remains as wonderful to read as ever.

About this title

Review:

A book deep in the American vein, so deep in fact it is by no means a sports book" ––David Halberstam "Ball Four is a people book, not just a baseball book." ––Christopher Lehmann–Haupt, The New York Times

A book deep in the American vein, so deep in fact it is by no means a sports book" —David Halberstam " Ball Four is a people book, not just a baseball book." —Christopher Lehmann–Haupt, The New York Times

From the Back Cover:

A book deep in the American vein, so deep in fact it is by no means a sports book" —David Halberstam " Ball Four is a people book, not just a baseball book." —Christopher Lehmann–Haupt, The New York Times When Ball Four was first published in 1970, it hit the sports world like a lightning bolt. Commissioners, executives, players and sportswriters were thrown into a state of shock. Stunned. Scandalized. The controversy was front–page news. Sportswriters called Bouton a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a "social leper." Commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force the author to sign a statement saying that the book wasn′t true. One team actually burned a copy of Ball Four in protest.And Bouton is still not invited to Oldtimers′ Day at Yankee Stadium. Fans, however, loved Ball Four and serious critics called it an important document. It was also very popular among people who didn′t ordinarily follow baseball, because Ball Four is not strictly a book about baseball, but one about people who happen to be baseball players. And it′s hilariously funny. For the twentieth–anniversary edition of this historic book, Bouton has written a new epilogue, detailing his career as an inventor, his battles with the Wrigley Company over bubble gum, his take on the Pete Rose controversy, and how baseball looks two decades after he changed its public image forever.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bulldog Pub
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 097091170X
• ISBN 13: 9780970911704
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 540