‘The Great American Sports Page’ is the greatest hits of sports journalism » With this book, the finger that Bouton left out of his glove, as ballplayers have done for generations, was not his index finger. The paladins of baseball were infuriated. Once “Ball Four” hit the shelves, the establishment of America’s signature game was, in the special argot of baseball, HBP (the scorecard abbreviation for “hit by pitcher”). Its impact was as much in what it did (open the clubhouse door to what really went on in the lives of ballplayers) as in what it said (which was outrageous, sometimes tawdry, occasionally salacious, ultimately unforgettable). Ritter’s “The Glory of Their Times.” But “Ball Four” was surely the best sports book ever written by a player only “The Game,” by hockey goalie Ken Dryden, comes close.īut its real significance is that it arguably is the most influential sports book ever. “Ball Four” may not have been the best baseball book ever - we can spark a debate on that, and among the many contenders are Roger Kahn’s “The Boys of Summer” and Lawrence S. Many fans can recite full passages by heart a half-century later, especially the dirty parts. For 50 years readers have flocked to the booksellers for the volume and devoured it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |