One of the things I love to do when interviewing authors for my blog on baseball books is to discuss the process: Where did you get your ideas? How did you find a publisher? How difficult was it to deliver your “baby” into the world?

One such book I had always been curious about was BALL FOUR by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter. Originally published in 1970, it has become a perennial favorite, considered the seminal “tell-all” in the sports memoir genre. There have been many imitators over the past 50 years, each trying to outdo the other with lurid tales of sex and drugs; reading it now, some might ask what all the fuss was about. Nevertheless, several sources have included BALL FOUR as one of the most important books --- period --- of the 20th century. So thanks have to go to Mitchell Nathanson for finally bringing this creation story to light.

Bouton was a pitcher who had a couple of good seasons for the New York Yankees at a time when they were on a downward trajectory thanks to diminishing performances from aging stars like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. The Newark-born hurler was part of a new generation, young men who were coming of age in the 1960s, facing the Vietnam War, racial unrest, and a host of other issues that would dominate the decade. You’ll forgive them if they didn’t buy into the whole dewy-eyed view of the national pastime.

In Mantle’s day, rookies were seen and not heard. They kowtowed to the veterans and managers, just grateful to be able to earn a living playing a game.

Not Bouton.

As Nathanson reports in this excellent portrait of an artist as a young, middle-aged and older man, Bouton was in a league all by himself: thoughtful, curious, unwilling to take much at face value or keep his mouth shut. This immediately set him apart from his fellow athletes in the late ’50s and ’60s who looked at him askance, labeling him a flake.

Bouton’s creative side already put him on a track to write a book (as a teenager, he developed an interest in watercolors and jewelry-making). And it is fortunate that he happened to be playing at a time when World, a small publishing company previously known for its books on religion, was looking to build its line of “tell-alls” by athletes, following the success of INSTANT REPLAY by Jerry Kramer, a member of the Green Bay Packers, and Dick Schaap. But they never could have imagined what Bouton would reveal.

"As Nathanson reports in this excellent portrait of an artist as a young, middle-aged and older man, Bouton was in a league all by himself: thoughtful, curious, unwilling to take much at face value or keep his mouth shut."

In addition to a new, more socially conscious group of athletes, sportswriters were going through a similar change. No longer content with cozying up to management, which often provided them with amenities such as free food and travel, many of this new breed sought different, deeper stories. They were branded “Chipmunks” by the established order. Leonard Shecter was a proud member of this gang. In a way, he was the Bouton of that group, looking to color outside the lines of traditional sports journalism. The publisher sought him out as one of the writers to pair with an athlete, and he leaped at the chance to work with Bouton.

Discussing the procedure with Shecter, they decided that Bouton would take copious notes at the ballpark, on the bus...wherever the mood hit him (he already had been traded to the Houston Astros after several declining seasons with the tailspinning Yankees), put his thoughts on tape and send them to his partner, who would edit and turn it into what eventually would become a game-changer in the world of sports literature.

While he does a fine job with the before-and-after of Bouton’s life on the field, Nathanson is at his best when he goes over the nuts and bolts of how BALL FOUR came to be and the fallout that followed. Plus, he gets extra kudos for giving Shecter the overdue credit he deserved for his part in this watershed literary event.

Despite the publisher’s desire for books of this nature, even they were not prepared for what Bouton was handing out. They tried to kill the project through various means, but Bouton and Shecter stood their ground, threatening legal action. The result, if not the product, must have pleased World as they had to add multiple press runs.

When BALL FOUR hit the stores, Bouton immediately became persona non grata to the baseball community. Ballplayers were outraged that he had broken the “code” by telling tales out of the locker room. Fans were outraged by the unflattering things written about their favorite players. Mantle playing while drunk? Someone else closing the bus window on the hands of kids seeking autographs? Players taking drugs? Bowie Kuhn, then the commissioner of baseball, was similarly outraged by the unfavorable light shed on the national pastime and tried to intimidate Bouton, but that was never going to work.

Then there was the media. The old guard, led by Dick Young of the New York Daily News, was relentless in their criticism on two fronts. First, it was the press’s job to glorify these ballplayers, make them larger than life. Who was this has-been to be putting this poison out there? Second, and perhaps more important, they resented Bouton invading their turf, even if Shecter did collaborate on the project.

Of course, an athlete’s professional life is brief. Looking at his statistics, Bouton’s was over before he turned 32, with an ill-advised attempt at a comeback at the age of 39. But he managed to parlay BALL FOUR into additional opportunities, including several more books that would never be able to recapture the magic --- good or bad, depending on your point of view --- of the original. He tried his hand as a sportscaster on a couple of New York stations, but that maverick personality, at first thought charming, eventually led to his dismissal from those gigs.

Bouton even tried to turn BALL FOUR into a TV show for CBS, but the subject matter --- drugs, sex, etc. --- made it a tough sell for the network, not to mention the censors (compare that to more recent offerings like “Eastbound & Down” and “Brockmire”).

He was never afraid to venture into areas that other people told him were out of his province, including politics. He had a good run with Big League Chew, shredded bubble gum in a pouch that gave kids the chance to emulate their tobacco-chewing idols. Credit Bouton for never giving up, even after the untimely death of his daughter, Laurie, killed in an automobile accident, crushed his spirit.

Bouton passed away last year, a victim of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a disease similar in many ways to Alzheimer’s. It must have been especially frustrating for the erudite gentleman, being unable to finish a thought or bring up a memory.

“Legacy” is a word often overused, but when it comes to BALL FOUR, it is most apt. It was a product of its time, of Bouton’s generation, and for better or worse it opened the door for those who tried to copy the formula but could never be as successful.