---
title: Ball Four
description: My review of baseball's greatest underground book Ball Four.
image: https://www.yell.is/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/18875308.jpg
---

![](https://www.yell.is/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/18875308.jpg)

There's [great baseball](https://www.inathanael.com/2013/05/a-memorial-day-weekend-for-ages.html) and then there's [great baseball stories](https://www.inathanael.com/2013/03/weekend-reads-baseball-data-amish.html). I'd put *Ball Four* up there for both, because both the story and the way this book is written are reminiscent of what makes baseball great.

Even though the moral of the book is: stop letting baseball owners screw the players, the game itself shines through. And Bouton admits it: for all his travails and complaints, he was getting paid to live every kid's dream. And it was really cool.

[![Ball Four (RosettaBooks Sports Classics)](https://www.yell.is/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/18875308.jpg)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18875308-ball-four)[Ball Four](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18875308-ball-four) by [Jim Bouton](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/48450.Jim_Bouton)  
My rating: [4 of 5 stars](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/933982142)

This was a fun read. Written just like a baseball game: a few sentences at a time, with long gaps in between, a rhythm that sets the reader up for some profound payoffs.

Not having lived through baseball's glory days without free agency or money, it was much like reading Ken Burns' documentary: a view into the game's history. And for the nostalgists that think of the game's history as its glory days, this book is a must-read. The glory days weren't all that glorious.

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