There was the steady ingestion of “greenies”: pharmaceuticals that players thought sharpened their skill set, not to mention the pranks that included (but weren't limited to) a fake paternity claim against a teammate and the restroom re-decoration of a fellow player's birthday cake. He spilled the beans about married teammates having relations with women not their wives while the club was away. Bouton revealed that a favorite team bonding experience on the road involved a climb onto a hotel roof so players could peer into the windows of unsuspecting female guests. The book became a controversial, must-read best-seller while rendering its author a horsehide pariah, a “snitch” who'd blown the game's cover with tales of boozin', infidelity, and ineptitude.īouton turned and sprayed on Mickey Mantle, joking about the legend's many injuries and propensity for drink, revealing that the guy many saw as the pinnacle of All-American virtue was mean to fans and played hungover.
No, his most notable work didn't happen with a sphere in his hand but instead when he picked up a pen, chronicling all that happened around him be it between the lines or, in some cases, between the sheets.īouton kept a diary and turned it into “Ball Four,” a memoir that blew minds, sullied legacies, and pretty much ruined the concept of MLB players being bastions of milk-drinking, Wheaties-munching virtue. HIs season as a Pilot (he actually didn't last the who campaign, getting traded to Houston after the All-Star break) isn't remembered because of what he did on the bump, trying to prolong his career by mastering the knuckleball.
They'd last just one season in the Pacific Northeast before moving to Milwaukee so, in essence, Bouton is an original Brewer.
Bouton's career would slide to the point where no one else wanted him, save the 1969 Seattle Pilots who picked him up in their expansion draft. He won 20 games as a Yankee starter in 1963 and 18 the next during his before his fastball left him. Only one of the more consequential baseball players of the era, thank you very much.
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