Jim Bouton Sighting

[Peter_Spaeth]

The Wrong Stuff by Bill Lee is very entertaining.

[Cat]

Ball Four was the first non-kids book that I read from cover to cover. Bought another copy a couple years ago and sometimes I'll pick it up and read something out of the middle and start laughing.

Sometimes when I get really mad, I say those two favorite curse words and everything seems so much better.

[Irwin Fletcher]

I'm a big Bouton fan and had the chance to meet him in Boston a few years ago when he was on a panel with Howard Zinn and Dave Zirin discussing the intersection of politics and sports. He was very friendly and down to earth.

In addition to "Ball Four" and "I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally," I also recommend Bouton's "Foul Ball." It's great.

[ethicsprof]

Jeff,
i know what you mean about being in the presence of your hero.
i loved Bouton as a boy---just thinking about him makes memories of
Howard, Skowron,Blanchard, Lopez,Boyer,Kubek,Ramos,Coates come running through my mind. I haven't thought about a couple of those in aeons.

thanks for sharing, ole buddy.

best,
barry

[Fred]

Hey, if his grand daughter goes to that school there's a good chance you might see him there again. Carry a copy of "Ball Four" with you when you go there. You just might get it signed. That is too cool. I remember reading that book a couple of times. Absolutely one of the best baseball books I ever read. Ok, it's been a couple of decades so I'll probably have to dust off the book and read it again. Too funny.....

[Rob D.]

"This winter (1977) I'm working out every day, throwing against a wall. I'm 11-0 against the wall."

[kkkkandp]

Jim's a Jersey boy and has been very active in all kinds of things around the state. After he retired from pro baseball he continued to be active for many years in semi-pro baseball, but also developed baseball-related businesses like Big League Chew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_League_Chew) and Big League Cards.

Jim and I had several nice chats when I used his company do do my son's birth announcement, which I stuck into and distributed in wax packs of 1983 Topps cards!