When my house cleaner threw my coverless, dogeared copy of Ball Four in the trash, I promptly fished it out. It's anyone's guess why a 41-year-old God-fearing female and lifelong Yankee fan would rank that book as a must-save, but I do. The book that "tore the cover off the biggest names in baseball" didn't make me think any less of my heroesÐit simply made all of them-Mantle, Maris, Tresh, et. al.-a little more human. Beyond that, it's a very funny book. The quality of "earthiness ... and non-sequitor" that Jim Bouton claims he's trying to capture is all there. The older I get, the more I read Ball Four not only as a book about baseball, but as a book about our times similar to (would'd have thought it) Samuel Pepys diary. Bouton freely discusses race, religion, and sex, but not to the point that the reader gets bored with any of them. Beyond everything else, it is a picture of Jim Bouton. It's all there, his insecurities, his faults, his self-serving attitude as well as his honesty, intelligence, and humor. I've heard very little about Bouton since 1970 when my brother and I read Ball Four and thought it necessary to keep it from our parents. But I feel as though I know Jim. And I feel nothing but kindness toward him.

I just finished reading this book for the third time, and it honestly never loses any of its superiority. Hands down, there has never been a better book written by an professional athlete.

I remember reading this book in high school, thinking that it was truly amazing. Now, having read the book in it's 31st year of print, it is still truly amazing. The best thing about the book is that it gives you an honest perspective of the game from the player's point-of-view. And Jim Bouton holds nothing back. He is very straightforward and candid as he pulls no punches and just tells it like it is.

In today's day and age, anybody can, if not already has, written a tell-all book, and this truly wouldn't have been entirely possible if not for Bouton's ground-breaking Ball Four. Written in a diary-style, Bouton tells of his adventures with two Major League Baseball teams, the expansion Seattle Pilots, now the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Houston Astros. He cronicles his wild year, experimenting with his "Superknuck" knuckleball and more importantly, just trying to be one of the guys.

Ball Four is well-written, not to mention, quite funny. Bouton is a very intelligent man, and he clearly shines in this book, and comes across very well. This is not your typical tell-all book, but more of a book loaded with wonderful behind-the-scenes stories, that really need to be told to really appreciate the game of baseball today. The section added to the end of the book dealing with the aftermath of the publishing is priceless, and a super addition. This is one complete book and a teriffic read. You will not be disappointed.

After Thirty years I reread this book and it is not the book I remembered. It's better. It was then, it is now, simply the best Baseball Book ever.

But it is now more than that. It's history.

When the Original edition of Ball Four came out it was considered scandalous and an unflattering expose on Baseball. Now it's history. American history. And the continuing autobiography of a man who is so much more than just a ballplayer.

Jim Bouton reveals what baseball was like in the 1960's: Players getting less than $10,000 a year in salary, General Managers lying to players and tricking them into low salaries. It is just hard to believe all that was baseball then.

Ball Four is famous, or infamous for giving great insight into several players. Yet in retrospect, not much is really told about the individual players. Mickey Mantle drank a lot and didn't sigh autographs; Roger Maris didn't always hustle. This is small stuff compared with what is told today. Still this is the stuff that started it all.

But the best part are the epilogues, written in 1980, 1990 and 2000, because they add a new perspective to the book. The author points out that maybe if more time was spent dealing with Mantle's drinking problem and less time spent hiding it and blasting Bouton maybe the Mick would be here today.

The book is fascinating and funny. And Real. I began t o understand what it most be like to be on the road, bored, for so many months a year. I began to understand why they did what they did.

Mr. Bouton deflates the image of the baseball player: They drank, took greenies (speed) and looked at girls in the stands. Shocking news! But he also deflates the images of coaches and managers. A player that floats in and out of the book is a rookie to the new Seattle Pilots. He talent is not overlooked by the players but it is overlooked by management is sent down to the minors and then traded to Kansas City. His name is Lou Pinella. A similar story is told about Mike Marshall.

Jim Bouton discusses his return to Yankee Stadium for old-timers day and the events surrounding it. In the end, that is what affected me the most. Having read the book thirty years ago, I thought it would be interesting to read the epilogues first. Their you learn the heart-breaking news that the Boutons lost their daughter, Laurie, in an accident in 1997. It changed everything, even the original Ball Four section. Mr. Bouton was devoted to Baseball, but he was devoted to family. In Ball Four we are introduced to Laurie at age three when she comes to a doubleheader with Mrs. Bouton and their two other children. Then, she is ironically nicknamed "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." Yet it is her spirit that gets Bouton invited back to the Old Timers Day at Shea. Mel Stottlemyre is mentioned in the original 1969 part of the book. Yet it is his conversation with Bouton, about losing his son in 1981, that will remain with me. You can't read it without tearing up.

I guess we like to think that baseball is everything to those who play it. Ball Four was the first to show what it was really like to get go through a season. In his Final Pitch Mr. Bouton shows what it takes to get through life. I hope he has a few more chapters in him. I'm sure Laurie would hope so too.