Word: boutons
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...talent Bouton suffered the castigation of owners, of sportswriters, and of fellow ball-players. His career, seemingly on a comeback course. was shattered. This year he was unconditionally released by the Houston Astros. a team he had pitched brilliantly for the year before. What did Bouton say that was so shocking...
...climbs up on the roof of a hotel to look up the dress of the girl in the building next door. Such things, under normal circumstances would humanize the hero, making him lovable if a bit eccentric. But they are also truths to which baseball would rather not admit. Bouton shows that baseball is a reflection of American life as it is today, funny, pathetic, victimizing, and still, despite everything, livable...
...between sheriff and gunfighter. The language of sportswriting reflects the popular mythology well. Pitchers "tame" hitters, runners are cut down "stealing" bases, and a crucial is a "duel." But who can imagine a classic confrontation between an adulterous pitcher and a hung-over hitter? Or so the arguments against Bouton...
...MOST vicious attacks against Ball Four were leveled by the team owners. Bowie Kuhn, the baseball commissioner hired by the owners, dressed Bouton down in public. Auggie Busch, part-time beer baron and part-time baseball impresario, called the book a "disgrace." The reasons for the attack are unimportant. What matters is that one book could cause so many supposedly even-tempered men to exhibit a moral outrage unequalled since Carrie Nation smashed her first saloon...
What is the nature of Bouton's criticism? He points out that baseball players are little better than slaves. Highly-paid slaves, but slaves nonetheless. His descriptions of contract negotiations are episodes of high farce. An owner explains to Bouton how much he means to the club, and then asks if he would let that stand as his salary increase. Bouton balks, and the owner comes around to Bouton's figure. The tragedy, as Bouton points out, is that the ball-player with less education often lets the owner's gratitude suffice for a raise...