Read this book when I was much younger. Deepened my love of baseball which lasted many years (until too much exposure to the Chicago Cubs). ( )

Good book and a classic, Enjoyable read. Bouton immediately makes you sympathetic. His liberal politics and easy going manner were even more of an attraction for me. This book has everthing you'll want to know about baseball players and their habits, extracurricular activities, work ethics and attitude etc. Lots of odd balls playing and managing in baseball. This is 1969-70 so the material is not quite as raunchy as say The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman. ( )

HC

This is the classic baseball "behind-the-scenes" book. Bouton is a thoughtful, insightful writer and incredibly funny. Plus this diary is an artifact of the gone and almost forgotten Seattle Pilots. I read the most recent edition which is almost twice as long with Bouton's updates on his career and life. But it's all the more fun, because Bouton is a character I want to know more about and the further you read into the book the more you feel, as Bouton puts it, like family. ( )

An absolutely fantastic book! It is a raw account of the great American pastime. It is funny. It is engaging. It shows baseball as it is, worts and all.

Highly recommended. I wish I could give it six stars. ( )

The book that changed my life, and that I still carry with me on every road trip. ( )

I loved the first edition and this updated edition is even better. Bouton takes you on a very entertaining journey behind the closed doors of the baseball world. Bouton is certainly pretty full of himself and I'm sure has embellished a little but I still love his stories.

Certainly a departure from your normal high brow baseball books but that, in itself, is refreshing. ( )

This book is a 30-year anniversary re-issue of "Ball Four", and was a gift from Bruce. I had planned to give it away, since I already had a signed copy, but then I read the new parts of this book, which consists of three new epilogues at 10-year intervals, for each re-issue. It surprised me a bit that this book made the New York Public Library's list of the 100 most important books of the 20th Century. The epilogues contain interesting bits such as Bouton's divorce and remarriage, his successful return to pitching in the big leagues, his other pursuits, and most painfully and poignantly, the death of his daughter Laurie at age 30 in a car wreck. Bouton's plain-spoken and witty writing skills have not diminished, but it is easy to see why he was not the carefree Hawkeye Pierce-like persona I expected when I went to his book signing. Rather, he seemed like a man, humorous by nature, with a deep layer of sadness under the veneer. ( )

I've read many books on baseball, some of which taught me the politics of the game, some the strategy and work that goes into being a ballplayer, and some on how to improve the game. But this is the first to teach me what it is actually like on a day-to-day basis to be a player, and to boot it is the funniest baseball book I've ever read. This is Jim Bouton's daily journal of the 1969 season, from the Yankees to the Seattle Pilots to the minor leagues and back, and finally to the Houston Astros. Bouton's style is simple and direct like Bob Greene's, and gives the reader the feeling of being there. A must-read for baseball fans. ( )

THE ORIGINAL 'insider' sports expose' before the days of free angency and muli-million dollar contracts. Bouton recounts his year in the majors and minors(1969) begining with the Seattle Pilots (their only year in existence)

"Smoke 'em Inside!" ( )

One of the first looks inside a baseball locker room, "Ball Four" is at times hysterical, other times shockingly frank. A must read for the baseball fan. ( )

This is the tell all sports book that started it all. I'm not big on tell-alls, but this one brings you inside what it's like in the locker room, on the team bus/plane, etc. An inside look men playing a boys game. ( )