2002-08-31 8:02 p.m.
Book Review: Ball Four
The strike is officially not happening, and I'm a little less crabby since
the A's have so far managed to maintain their streak. Plus I've written
almost nothing about books in over 50 entries, and I don't want to get kicked
out of the
book ring. So now it's time to write
about the quintessential baseball book, and one that I just finished reading,
Jim Bouton's Ball Four.
The cover blurbs on Ball Four say it's "not just a baseball book," but you'll appreciate
it more if you know a few things about baseball or if you're familiar with
some of the people still involved in MLB. In fact, the following excerpt is a litmus
test: the funnier you find this, the more you'll enjoy the book:
Norm Miller was doing the broadcast bit in the fourth inning when Joe
Morgan came back to the dugout after missing a big curve ball for strike
three.
"Joe, Joe Morgan, may I have a word with you?
"Sure, Norm, how's it going?"
"Fine, Joe, fine. We wanted to ask you about that pitch you missed.
What was it?"
"Norm, that was a motherfucking curve."
"Can you tell our listeners, Joe, what's the difference between a regular
curve and a motherfucking curve?"
"Well, Norm, your regular curve has a lot of spin on it and you can
recognize it real early. It breaks down a little bit, and out. Now, your
motherfucker, that's different. It comes in harder, looks like a fastball.
Then all of a sudden it rolls off the top of the table and before you know
it, it's motherfucking strike three."
"Thank you very much, Joe Morgan."
That pretty much covers it: relatively mild inside dirt on players who are now
the coaches, broadcasters and fathers of current players (especially for you Mariners
fans), laced with lots of humor and a little profanity. Plus there's gratuitous
slagging on a very-pre-Yankees Joe Torre, and a few unflattering stories about what
Lou Piniella was like as a rookie (pretty much as he appears to be now, only younger).
What's not to love?
(If you find yourself picking up the 1990 edition instead of the 2000, like I did,
you can catch up with Jim Bouton here and here.)