The Yankees lost the World Series both years, with Bouton losing his lone start in 1963 in New York’s loss to the Angeles Dodgers, and winning twice the following year in the Yankees’ loss to the St. Throwing so hard that his cap flew off his head, Bouton was 21-8 with six shutouts in 1963 - his second season in the majors - and went 18-13 with four more shutouts in 1964. Bouton’s revealing look at baseball off the field made for eye-opening and entertaining reading, but he paid a big price for the best-seller when former teammates, other players and executives across the big leagues ostracized him for exposing their secrets. Published in 1970, “Ball Four” detailed Yankees great Mickey Mantle’s carousing, and the use of stimulants in the major leagues. He fought a brain disease linked to dementia and was in hospice care. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold, and a social leper for having violated the sanctity of the. When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. He was 80.īouton’s family said he died today at the home he shared with wife Paula Kurman. The 50th Anniversary edition of the book that changed baseball (NPR), chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Non-Fiction books. Jim Bouton, the former New York Yankees pitcher who shocked and angered the conservative baseball world with the tell-all book “Ball Four,” has died.
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