Jim Bouton

I am so glad that I had the chance to meet Jim Bouton at this winter's BAT Dinner in New York. The North Jersey native starred for the Yankees at the end of the Mantle/Berra/Ford dynasty: winning 21 games in 1963 and 18 more in 1964. There's an image of his cap flying off while pitching from the mound in the Bronx. The nickname Bulldog. The uniform number 56. Of course, there was his game-changing book Ball Four -- whose candid, insider's viewpoint broke a lot of old taboos, helped launch him into a career as a local TV sportscaster and changed the sense of what sports books should be.  One more example of his being ahead of the curve (pardon the pun) is Big Leage Chew -- he's one of the developers of the bubblegum product designed to resemble chewing tobacco but without the harmful health risks.
You can connect with Jim online through his website. His thoughtful rebelliousness, a sense of marching to the beat of his own drummer made him feel like "one of us." For baby boomers who grew up during the 1960s, here's a ballplayer of our generation, born the year before John Lennon.

Comments

Glen said…
I had no idea he was one of the guys behind Big League Chew. I have no shame in saying that I'm still a fan. When I want a big wad of chewing gum in my cheek, nothing is as satisfying as Big League Chew. There's something special about shredded bubblegum.
February 26, 2013 at 5:17 PM
Felipe said…
Jim Bouton is a literary hero of mine. Ball Four is one of the best non-fiction books about sports anybody will ever read. Great to see that he's still doing well. Even better to realize that most, if not all, of his "cooky, crazy" ideas, even until this day, have withstood the test of time.
March 1, 2013 at 1:29 PM
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