Mitchell Nathanson - Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original

Once you start reading, you will not be able to stop. A compelling look at one of the most influential and controversial figures in baseball history. A new generation needs to know the story of Jim Bouton: a man who never wearied of gleefully and hilariously skewering the establishment but who also had the old-school drive to will his dreams into reality. Above all, a lifetime love of baseball shines through in every chaptera true reflection of Bouton himself.

Brian Kenny, host for MLB Network and author of Ahead of the Curve: Inside the Baseball Revolution

Half a century after Jim Boutons Ball Four hilariously let the air out of Major League Baseballs inflated self-image, one of the games most fascinating characters finally gets the biography he deserves. Unfettered and unfiltered, like Bouton himself, Bouton will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you wanna pound that Budweiser. To paraphrase the late, great Joe Schultz, Attaway to go, Mitchell Nathanson!

Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride through Baseball and America in the Swinging 70s

For years people have told me that they fell in love with baseball after reading Ball Four. Jim Bouton was a unique character on the baseball stage, a figure of historical importance. Its time we all knew him better, and Mitchell Nathansons book gets that done.

Marty Appel, New York Yankees historian and author of Pinstripe Empire and Casey Stengel

Mitchell Nathanson

University of Nebraska Press | Lincoln

2020 by Mitchell Nathanson.

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover photograph by Jim Hansen, LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.

Author photo courtesy of the author.

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nathanson, Mitchell, 1966 author.

Title: Bouton: the life of a baseball original / Mitchell Nathanson.

Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019044481

ISBN 9781496217707 (hardback: alk. paper)

ISBN 9781496221308 (epub)

ISBN 9781496221315 (mobi)

ISBN 9781496221322 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH : Bouton, Jim. | Baseball playersUnited StatesBiography. | BaseballUnited States.

Classification: LCC GV 865. B 69 N 37 2020 | DDC 796.357092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044481

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For John Gleesonteacher, coach, friend

With rebellion, awareness is born.

Albert Camus

In the late summer of 2016 I dragged my family out to the Berkshires so that I could sit down with who I hoped would be the subject of my next bookJim Bouton. Dragged is most definitely overstating it. We were leaving hot, humid Philadelphia for the cool breezes of western Massachusettswho would refuse such an offer? It would be a baseball-themed trip, as I also had a talk scheduled at the Baseball Hall of Fame in conjunction with another book, so I sold the excursion to my wife and kids as one where wed spend a few days in the town that celebrated the baseball establishment and then head on over to meet the man who upended all of that in one fell swoop.

I had no idea how my meeting with Bouton and his wife, Paula Kurman, would go; he hadnt been receptive to the idea of my taking on his lifes story at first. Or upon reflection, for that matter. Why, he wanted to know as we exchanged emails, would he agree to have me write his story when hed spent his life doing that himself? I persisted, for what reason I dont really know, other than the fact that Id had my eye on his story for nearly two decades by that point; he just fascinated me in so many ways. In my opinion the three most influential ballplayers of the 1960s were Curt Flood, Dick Allen, and Jim Bouton. There were a few great biographies on Flood, and I had just written a biography of Allen; at this point Bouton was my white whale.

Eventually, I heard from Paula, who suggested the get-together to see if something could be worked out so as to enable me to write my book while not completely upending their lives. Hence the trip to the Berkshires. I had no idea what to expect as I waited by the CVS near my motel in Great Barrington for Jim to pick me up in his beat-up Subaru wagon. (Dont even try to figure out how to find their house using GPS , Paula warned. They were so far out in the middle of nowhere that the satellites had long since given up trying to locate them.) I was nervous as to how Id be received; Dick Allen wanted nothing to do with me when I was working on his biography, and I feared another cold shoulder. I should add that I understood Allens reticence; its just that I didnt enjoy it and wasnt looking to experience that once again. More important, though, I knew going in that I was not going to do the book if I couldnt get Boutons cooperation; unlike Allens, I was convinced that Boutons story couldnt be told without access to the man himself. So this meeting was an all-or-nothing experience for me. Id either walk out of their house with my next project or be back at square one.

About thirty minutes into our meeting I began to feel comfortable. Jim was open and ebullient, Paula had pulled up a chair and was freely relaying stories I thought Id have to wait months to hear and then only if I was lucky, the birds were whistling (and Bouton was whistling back at them), the frogs were croaking, life was good. I finally ginned up the courage to ask if they would mind if I turned my tape recorder on. Why not? Paula replied. Youd better make sure you get everything down if youre going to do this. From that moment on, whenever I asked to speak to them they were similarly open and forthcoming. I cannot even begin to thank them enough for the many hours of their lives I have taken up with my questions regarding nearly anything and everything I could think of that touched Jim Boutons extraordinary life. Working with them has been the sort of gift I can only hope other writers get to experience when they seek similar access to their subjects.

I am also extraordinarily grateful for the time Bobbie Bouton-Goldberg spent with me, similarly answering whatever I asked, no matter how personal and intrusive. I could not have written this book without her patience and cooperation.

For reasons I wont get into here, this books path to publication was unusually odd and hazardous, with numerous dead ends along the way. There is no way on earth I could have reached my destination without the skill, guidance, and encouragement of my agent, Farley Chase. Thank you, Farley, for never losing faith in either me or the project.

Eventually, the book found a loving home at the University of Nebraska Press, and for that I have Rob Taylor to thank, along with everybody there who worked on the manuscript along the way. Nobody does baseball the way Nebraska does baseball, and for that I am most appreciative.

There were also dozens who helped me one way or another, either through agreeing to be interviewed or by directing me to one resource or another Id never have been able to locate without their help. Barbara Bair at the Library of Congress deserves special mention; she oversaw the acquisition of the Bouton Papers by the LOC and has been their enthusiastic champion since they arrived. Thank you, Barbara, for spending the time and energy going through the