I don’t really have anything to add here except to agree with Phil that Ball Four is one of the best nonfiction books ever. (And, no, I don’t consider Charlie Brown to be nonfiction.)
I don’t really have anything to add here except to agree with Phil that Ball Four is one of the best nonfiction books ever. (And, no, I don’t consider Charlie Brown to be nonfiction.)
In Ball Four it seems like Bouton is a great guy. Hey, he wrote the book, of course every story is told from his side. But he also lets you see that many of his teammates and managers think he’s a jerk. So I always wondered.
Then, several years after I first read the book, my girlfriend at the time said Bouton lived in her town and she had seen him at some school events with his family…and he seemed like a jerk. More evidence for how good his book is!
Phil:
This is the reverse of the von Neumann paradox: When I read about Neumann, he comes off as a obnoxious, self-satisfied jerk. He just seems like the kind of guy I wouldn’t like in real life. But everyone seemed to find him charming and lovable. So he must have been nicer than he sounds from the stories.
“teammates and managers think he’s a jerk.”
Hard to know what to chalk that up to. Him or the teammates and managers?
Also, The Long Goodbye is one of the best movies ever, and Bouton was surprisingly well cast
The prior BUGS you. Ha!