Amazon.com
As a player, former hurler Jim Bouton did nothing half-way; he threw so hard he'd lose his cap on almost every pitch. In the early '70s, he tossed off one of the funniest, most revealing, insider's takes on baseball life in Ball Four, his diary of the season he tried to pitch his way back from oblivion on the strength of a knuckler. The real curve, though, is Bouton's honesty. He carves humans out of heroes, and shines a light into the game's corners. A quarter century later, Bouton's unique baseball voice can still bring the heat.
Book Description
Twentieth-anniversary edition of a baseball classic, with a new epilogue by Jim Bouton.
When first published in 1970, Ball Four stunned the sports world. The commissioner, executives, and players were shocked. Sportswriters called author Jim Bouton a traitor and "social leper." Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force him to declare the book untrue. Fans, however, loved the book. And serious critics called it an important social document. Today, Jim Bouton is still not invited to Oldtimer's Days at Yankee Stadium. But his landmark book is still being read by people who don'tordinarily follow baseball.
Customer Reviews:
Still funny after all these years.......2007-08-25
Still Hilarious the second time around. I've always been a baseball fan, coached by Dad and a family tradition. The humanizing of the players made me love it more. Never did understand the controversy, telling the truth about greedy, exploitive owners maybe? But that's true of all big business from ENRON on down the ladder (that was never a secret). Steroids? In this one it's greenies (uppers) pitchers use them in this iteration and made their sore arms and tired muscles disappear. The disappointing thing is no one seems concerned about the health issues. Sports and business all have a history of taking any advantage, cheating is in the eye of the beholder. Heck with records, throw them all out. Baseball is about fun, and parents interacting and enjoying their children.
Play ball!.......2007-05-16
This insider's account of playing in the big leagues is side-splitting entertainment. Bouton concentrates on the fun, the funny, and the amusingly odd aspects of what so many call "adults playing a boys' game." In his well-travelled career, Bouton played for the Yankees, Braves, Astros, and even the late, not-so-great Seattle Pilots. His personal contacts and anecdotes with many well-known baseball personalities (many still active as commentators, managers, and broadcasters) reminds us all that life, as well as sports, should be fun and we should keep an eye open for the humor in mundane siutations. Anyone with an interest in baseball will truly get more than a few chuckles from this well written book.
Men... or Boys?.......2007-04-12
This hilarious account of an injured pitcher's comeback will have you rolling on the floor as you get an interesting look at baseball players way back when.
A hilarious inside look to why these are not men playing a kid's game. They are just big kids........2007-04-04
Jim Boutin was a very successful pitcher with the New York Yankees before injuring himself and having to become a knuckleball pitcher for the expansion Seattle Pilots. He wrote a diary of his comeback and it is nothing short of hilarious. The picture he paints of major leaguers is that of young boys who play pranks on one another and get their feelings hurt very easily. The only difference is these kids drive sports cars and pick up women during games. One scene in particular where they put talcum powder in another player's blow dryer makes me laugh every time I think of it. What makes the book so good is Bouton's natural way of writing so that the diary entires are not disjointed like Jim Brosnan's "The Long Season", but they have a flow to them. Even though I did not know many of the players he referenced in the book because it was before my time, it still remains a timeless classic.
My All-Time Favorite Book (in 1971); Still Way Up There on the List.......2007-01-21
My prospective 12th grade English teacher wasn't too impressed with my choice of an "all-time favorite book", but in 1971, "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton was it. Growing up in central New York state, I'd been a Yankee fan for my entire childhood, and remembered Bouton pitching for the Yanks in the World Series in the early '60s. In "Ball Four", Bouton touches on those days, in the process demythologizing some of my heroes--Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford in particular--but I wasn't bitter; I was fascinated with the stories of how my athletic heroes behaved as human beings.
Even better were Bouton's diary accounts of his days as a reliever with the Seattle Pilots, a one-year team that quickly moved to Milwaukee and exists today as the Brewers, and with the Houston Astros (featuring future Hall of Famer Joe Morgan and managed by Harry "The Hat" Walker". How else would I remember that the manager of that team was Joe Schulz, a crusty old baseball lifer whose two favorite "words" would be sure to get this review removed from view (the first started with F and ended with T, the second started with S and ended with K). As an ex-Cardinal, Schulz exhorted his players to "get the win and go in to "pound that B...weiser". As a 16-year old I also viewed with great hilarity the crude humor of ballplayers on the road--a phrase I still use today came from a ballplayer told that a game would start at 9:30 a.m, "Nine thirty? H..l, I'm not done throwing up by that time of day!" After a bumpy bus ride, another player offers to buy the bus. I'll leave it to you to guess why. In response to Walker's niggling managerial style, the Astros composed their own theme song "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be an Astro" ("if we win our game each day, what the f... can Harry say/it makes a fellow proud to be an Astro!")
Bouton also takes us through his pitching season--outing by outing--you get a feel of how seriously ballplayers evaluate each game (at least Bouton did), and at Bouton's level of "last man in the bullpen", how tenuous their hold on a major league position is. Maybe there was more to this now famous book than Ms. Trapnell gave it credit for in 1971.
Book Description
In billards, the four-ball is passive; it's the one that gets knocked around by the other balls. Christian man, is that you? Are you knocked around by your environment, rather than taking you God-given assignment to lead? Mark Chanski's book is a clarion call to all Christian men to face life's challenges with Manly Dominion. It will challenge and encourage you to lead, wherever God places you, with Spirit-filled conviction. No Christian man (or woman!) living in today's world should be without it. Read carefully, and transform your life!
Customer Reviews:
A Wonderful Encouragement for the Modern Man and Young Man.......2007-02-08
This book has been a tremendous encouragement to me and the men in my family and my church. It is one of the most practically valuable books I have ever read. I would suspect that it would also be a goldmine for Pastors and other men who wish to think clearly about their roles as Christian men and heads of household. Mark Chanski, a Reformed Baptist pastor, hammers out theological principles on a more basic level and then applies them to a broad range practical areas that every man might face: Manly Dominion in Vocational Laboring, Financial Earning, Decision making, churchmanship, sin mortifying, child rearing, husbanding, etc. This is especially valuable to young men. If you are heeding the Proverbs' exhortation to 'search for wisdom as for gold', this is not a book you will want to pass up, young man. A great companion as a devotional guide along side of Bible reading and soul searching.
Easy to read, good material.......2006-02-28
This is a great read! I am using it for a men's Bible study...it cover some important ground and has the strength of being practical and is filled with practical illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
A book that changed the sports book genre for the better.......2006-12-05
Books about sports stars can be dated in two ways. BBF (Before Ball Four) and ABF (After Ball Four). Before this book came out, sports stars were mythologized in print and the books had a cardboard-style sameness to them. According to the BBF books baseball stars such as Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams did nothing but pull for their team and engage in some occasional boyish antics. In other words, heroes through and through.
The reality was quite different, Babe Ruth was an incorrigible woman chaser, heavy drinker and was verbally cruel to people. There is the classic story of a group of baseball writers playing a game of cards on a train taking the Yankees on a road trip. A naked woman followed by an equally naked Ruth ran past them. One writer remarked, "It is a good thing I didn't see that because otherwise I would have to write about it." Mickey Mantle was a heavy drinker; he often played so heavily hung over that he had trouble keeping his eyes open. Williams was not a team player, he was at times an indifferent fielder and he refused to enlarge the strike zone by even an inch in order to drive in a run that would tie or win a game. There is a classic story that he once hit a home run that got his team back in the game. However, rather than accepting the accolades of his teammates, he sat in the dugout cussing himself for swinging at a pitch that was a ball.
Bouton's book changed all that. He described the players as human, with all their faults. In the early sixties Bouton had one of the best fastballs in the game, his pitching helped propel the Yankees to the American league pennant and some argued that in 1964, he was the best pitcher in baseball. However, in 1965 he hurt his arm and could no longer throw the heat. In 1969, he made a semi-comeback throwing the knuckleball for the expansion Seattle Pilots. Even on a marginal team he was at best a marginal player. This book is a combination of his actions with the Pilots as well as a reflection of his time with the Yankees. Therefore, it is easy to detect a strain of bitterness at the loss of the glory days of the 1964 Yankees. Nevertheless, while many people have decried the book, no one has ever come forward to disprove his statements about the escapades of the players. Many drank heavily and took drugs, most were sexually promiscuous, and at times they were contemptuous of the fans.
Since "Ball Four" came out, the books about sports stars have been more honest. This, in my opinion, is good for the fans, the games and even the players. The nation has become much more knowledgeable and realistic in how it views heroes. It would have been impossible to continue the artificial presentations of the people who so fascinate us when they play for pay.
Average customer rating:
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Ball Four
Jim Bouton
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GUBVGQ |
Customer Reviews:
A book that changed the sports book genre for the better.......2006-12-05
Books about sports stars can be dated in two ways. BBF (Before Ball Four) and ABF (After Ball Four). Before this book came out, sports stars were mythologized in print and the books had a cardboard-style sameness to them. According to the BBF books baseball stars such as Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams did nothing but pull for their team and engage in some occasional boyish antics. In other words, heroes through and through.
The reality was quite different, Babe Ruth was an incorrigible woman chaser, heavy drinker and was verbally cruel to people. There is the classic story of a group of baseball writers playing a game of cards on a train taking the Yankees on a road trip. A naked woman followed by an equally naked Ruth ran past them. One writer remarked, "It is a good thing I didn't see that because otherwise I would have to write about it." Mickey Mantle was a heavy drinker; he often played so heavily hung over that he had trouble keeping his eyes open. Williams was not a team player, he was at times an indifferent fielder and he refused to enlarge the strike zone by even an inch in order to drive in a run that would tie or win a game. There is a classic story that he once hit a home run that got his team back in the game. However, rather than accepting the accolades of his teammates, he sat in the dugout cussing himself for swinging at a pitch that was a ball.
Bouton's book changed all that. He described the players as human, with all their faults. In the early sixties Bouton had one of the best fastballs in the game, his pitching helped propel the Yankees to the American league pennant and some argued that in 1964, he was the best pitcher in baseball. However, in 1965 he hurt his arm and could no longer throw the heat. In 1969, he made a semi-comeback throwing the knuckleball for the expansion Seattle Pilots. Even on a marginal team he was at best a marginal player. This book is a combination of his actions with the Pilots as well as a reflection of his time with the Yankees. Therefore, it is easy to detect a strain of bitterness at the loss of the glory days of the 1964 Yankees. Nevertheless, while many people have decried the book, no one has ever come forward to disprove his statements about the escapades of the players. Many drank heavily and took drugs, most were sexually promiscuous, and at times they were contemptuous of the fans.
Since "Ball Four" came out, the books about sports stars have been more honest. This, in my opinion, is good for the fans, the games and even the players. The nation has become much more knowledgeable and realistic in how it views heroes. It would have been impossible to continue the artificial presentations of the people who so fascinate us when they play for pay.
Most realistic book about baseball ever written.............2005-04-04
Although Ball Four was published more than thirty years ago, it remains as true a book now as it was then. Mr. Bouton leaves no subject untouched. Whether writing about the frustration of pitching behind an inferior teammate, "activities" that go on behind the backs of wives and girlfriends, or dealing with the egos of major league star players and managers, Bouton brings the bigger-than-life world of professional baseball down to earth in a funny and sometimes hilarious way.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best sports books ever, vilified when first released now understood to have been good for baseball.......2007-03-25
When the book "Ball Four" first came out in 1970, it created a major sensation. For it was the first sports book that presented athletes in any light other than as the shining, pristine hero. There had been a tradition in baseball that books "written" by athletes were not to ever mention the dubious escapades of the players. "Ball Four" tore off that veneer, exposing some very questionable activity. What was amazing was that no one ever really disputed what Bouton was saying, only that he had no right to say it. In my opinion, in writing this book, Bouton did baseball and the country a great service.
In "Ball Four", Bouton openly talks about Mickey Mantle's alcohol problems. The fact is that Mickey died an early death from liver disease that was a consequence of his heavy drinking. His life after baseball was largely a miserable one after he retired. In one of his last statements, Mickey said "Play like me, don't live like me." The recent and repeated scandals over extensive steroid use in major league baseball clearly demonstrate that the people who run the game still don't understand the situation. Bouton himself openly talks about getting better performance through chemicals. On page 45, he writes "Baseball players will take anything. If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher 20 wins but might take 5 years off his life, he'd take it."
Before I read this book, I had read many sports books, both fiction and non-fiction. Unfortunately, once I read it, I understood that many of those labeled as non-fiction should have been labeled as fiction. Reading it did not turn me off on baseball; that was done by the subsequent nonsense and denials about drug use and gambling in the game. One wonders if we would even have heard about them if it were not for the "writings" of Jim Bouton.
best baseball book i ever read!.......2001-07-25
this book is an account of jim bouton's 1969 season with the seattle pilots/houston astros. when i began reading it, i couldn't put it down! an insightful behind the scenes look often told with great humor.
Average customer rating:
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Ball Four
Manufacturer: World
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GQON5G |
Product Description
small booklet of official AAU-sanctioned rules, plus photos & data on competition winners of those times.
Product Description
Partial Contents:
THE THIRTY-SEVENTH ILLINOIS AT PRAIRIE GROVE By Jeremy H. Wilder
THE LORD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES: BLACK LAUNDRESSES IN LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, 1917-1921
By Elizabeth Haiken
POETS LAUREATE OF ARKANSAS By Susan L. Bailey
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY POTTERY INDUSTRY IN SEBASTIAN COUNTY, ARKANSAS By Jeffrey A. Blakely
THE REVEREND FOUNTAIN BROWN: ALLEGED VIOLATOR OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION By Howard C. Westwood
BULLETS FOR JOHNNY REB: CONFEDERATE NITRE
AND MINING BUREAU IN ARKANSAS By James J. Johnson
THE CONFEDERATE HOME GUARD IN SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS By Charles G. Williams
BEFORE THE HANGING JUDGE:
THE ORIGINS OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS By Larry D. Ball
LOSING THE PAST: DRAPER AND THE
RUDDELL INDIAN CAPTIVITY By George E. Lankford
CADDOS MOVED TO THE LITTLE MISSOURI
By Samuel Dorris Dickinson
BLACK ARKANSANS AND WORLD WAR ONE By Randy Finley
DE SOTO A TILE LAW By Samuel Dorris Dickinson
RECONSTRUCTING A FRONTIER OLIGARCHY:
ANDREW JOHNSONS AMNESTY PROCLAMATION AND ARKANSAS By Richard B. McCaslin
Book Description
The T-34/76 was a major step forward in tank design and its appearance on the battlefield during the German invasion of Russia shocked the Germans into developing new AFVs such as the Panzer V Panther. Produced in huge numbers, its later variant the T-34/85 would see extended postwar service with Communist-supplied countries around the world - such as the Arab countries, the North Korea, North Vietnam and China. With detailed step-by-step model photography, specially commissioned walkround photography, scale drawings and wartime shots, these books will provide all the details needed to model the main T-34 version - the Model 1943 - and its variants. There is a full roundup of the models available on the market, details of where you can see the real thing, a select bibliography, and survey of websites of interest.
Customer Reviews:
informative and lacking.......2002-07-28
This is the first of the Osprey modelling titles I purchased. The kit reviews are worth the price of the book ( wish I had bought it on Amazon! ). I had no idea how inaccurate the Tamiya offerings of the T-34 until I read this! There are a few scale drawings included; I would have preferred more. The biggest problem I have with this book is that the emphasis on purchasing after-market parts. It's great to know which aftermarket sets one should pursue, but it would have been even better to demonstrate DIY remedies to failures in accuracy. I have noticed that the other Osprey modelling titles suffer from this failing. As I said, worth it, but could have been better.
Book Description
EMTs are the field medics in the war zone known as the inner cities. Called upon to save the chronically diseased and uninsuredthe dying gunshot victims, the crack-house mothers in childbirththey must talk their way through crowds of drugged-up bystanders or past potentially violent mates to shepherd their victims to safety.ana Abrams Karam spent over two years riding with the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) teams of Newark, New Jersey, witnessing up close acts of heroism, struggles against violence and bureaucracy, and the inner battles against frustration and despair that TV shows like ER and Third Watch barely reveal. Bearing witness to it all, Karam tells the inside story of crisis response, giving important insights into the problems that neither social reform nor technology have been able to resolve. Into the Breach will mesmerize readers with its action and human drama and ought to be mandatory reading for every social worker, teacher, and politician involved with urban social reform.
Customer Reviews:
Should be required reading.......2007-07-16
Accurately describes the days of EMTs and Paramedics in New Jersey. When I got the book, I couldn't put it down. Shows improvements of EMS since the "Johnny and Roy" days of TV.
Wonderful description of the events of 9/11 that happened on their end.
The Cavalry Is Coming
Worst EMS book every written. .......2006-01-07
J.A. Karam is obviously an amatuer writer who graphically overempahiszes every part of this book and every person. Anyone with a mediocre level of intelligence can picture a bunch of overweight underachievers eatting "cheese whiz" and "eight White Castle burgers" while contemplating the "what if's" in life. Don't waste your time on this book if you are considering entering the world of EMS. EMS professionals do not abuse new employee's nor do we plan on spending our lives on the streets. We move on to educating the new EMS professionals, management or other positions within the healthcare industry with a future.
Accurate to some extent.......2005-08-20
After reading the other reviews felt I had to write my own.
First of all this is life in Newark EMS, she showed you the worst parts, and left out the BS. Obviously an attempt to impress the reader. The writer does not understand that without the BS jobs, the men and women who are professional urban EMS providers would have no down time, no time to get away from the horror that is at times their jobs. The jobs she wrote about all happened but she didn't right the mundane that one of the other reviews mentioned.
Irreverant humor happens in all of the human services, cops joke about the bodies in a crime scene, fireman are the ones who coined the term crispy critter, doctors and nurses laugh while coding a patient. Yes it does insulate them, that is why they do it. Once again Karam neglected to write about the times that the men and women of Newark EMS held the hand of the dying patient, or broke down in tears because too many people died that week, she really didn't show the whole image of the men and women.
Yes some of the people she choose to highlight maybe aren't the most stable or healthy, maybe they drink too much, but they are in the minority. Karam spoke of a man who worked nights, and on his days off he would spend time fishing with his kids. She made him out to be abnormal in the world of Urban EMS. Again this is Karam trying to glorify being unstable because of the job. Most of the men and women who work there have stable healthy home lives. They are able to come home and turn work off, and enjoy being with their kids.
Regarding the views of University ER nurses in the books, no the nurses in the er are not uncaring unfeeling bitches. Yes many of EMS providers feel that they are. If you didn't love what you do you would not work in the ER or in the streets of Newark.
To sum it up, Karam gave you a glimpse of the job, but not a full representation.
"You Can Not Imagine What it's Like...".......2005-07-14
These are the words spoken by an air-evac nurse on page 187. She goes on to say that she had no idea what paramedics did. Scenes are uncontrolled chaos. There are police, family members, firemen, drunks, and a tremendous amount of noise to deal with. In all this you have to make split second decisions.
Having been there I can relate to what this nurse is saying. EMS is training. It's glorified. It's put down. It's hard work. It's too long hours. It's a lotta things I hate to talk about. Karam writes about them, the good and the bad. Not all of my experiences are the same as what she wrote about. Around here 12 hour shifts are rare there is no way that one could get a patient to the hospital every 30 minutes. But Karam wrote about Newark, NJ.
This job attracts people. Read Karam's book. The long hours and the relatively low pay can take a toll on your family life. Recently I had a paramedic tell me that he had not been home for eleven days. Any glory that there is in the job wears off the first time you get get called in on the carpet to explain something.
So if you read Karam's book, you'll get a taste of what it's like. And it's not just a year of life and death. It's a career.
Not for Me.......2004-08-06
About the book.Two words, utter crap. This being said, Montet should take a closer look at whom he works with before throwing the terms childish and primadonna (this is the correct spelling by the way Montet). The people in the book spend a majority of their time taking care of the the more mundane "urgencies" just the same as every other EMS system in out country.
Average customer rating:
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Life Histories of North American Jays, Crows and Titmice
Arthur Cleveland Bent
Manufacturer: Dover Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Birds
| Field Guides
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
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Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
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ASIN: 0486257231 |
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October 1964
Summer of '49 (P.S.)
