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Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
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Publisher's summary
Ball Four: The Final Pitch is the original book plus all the updates, unlike the 20th Anniversary Edition paperback.
When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries.
Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four. Fans liked discovering that athletes were real people--often wildly funny people. Many readers said it gave them strength to get through a difficult period in their lives. Serious critics called it an important document.
David Halberstam, who won a Pulitzer for his reporting on Vietnam, wrote a piece in Harper’s that said of Bouton: “He has written… a book deep in the American vein, so deep in fact that it is by no means a sports book.”
In 1999 Ball Four was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the “Books of the Century.” And Time magazine chose it as one of the "100 Greatest Non-Fiction" books.
Besides changing the image of athletes, the book played a role in the economic revolution in pro sports. In 1975, Ball Four was accepted as legal evidence against the owners at the arbitration hearing, which lead to free agency in baseball and, by extension, to other sports.
Today Ball Four has taken on another role--as a time capsule of life in the 60s. "It is not just a diary of Bouton's 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros," says sportswriter Jim Caple. "It's a vibrant, funny, telling history of an era that seems even further away than four decades. To call it simply a "tell all book" is like describing The Grapes of Wrath as a book about harvesting peaches in California."
Critic reviews
Featured Article: The Best Baseball Audiobooks of All Time
Ask any baseball fan and they'll tell you: some of their favorite sounds can only be heard at the ballpark—the smooth, satisfying pop of a catcher’s glove as a pitch hits its mark; the crack of a bat as it tears into a fastball, explosive and hopeful, drawing the crowd to their feet. Our list, a roundup of outstanding baseball audiobooks, offers a glimmer of that same ballpark magic with just a few of the greatest stories from our national pastime.
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Story
The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism and his two great passions - for America's pastime and for jazz, America's music - O'Neil played solely for love. In an era when greedy, steroid-enhanced athletes have come to characterize professional ball, Posnanski offers a salve for the damaged spirit: the uplifting life lessons of a truly extraordinary man who never missed an opportunity to enjoy and love life.
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Buck O’Neil fan!!
- By scott on 04-24-20
By: Joe Posnanski
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They Called Me God
- The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived
- By: Doug Harvey, Peter Golenbock
- Narrated by: Robert Brown
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the pageantry of baseball, one select group is virtually unknown in the outside world, derided by fans, faced with split-second choices that spell victory or defeat. These men are up-close observers of the action, privy to inside jokes, blood feuds, benches-clearing brawls, and managers’ expletive-filled tirades. In this wonderful memoir, Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey takes us within baseball as you’ve never seen it, with unforgettable inside stories of baseball greats such as Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, and Whitey Herzog.
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The Best? Possibly.
- By Rick on 07-12-14
By: Doug Harvey, and others
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The Fireballer
- A Novel
- By: Mark Stevens
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Frank Ryder is unstoppable on the baseball field—his pitches arrive faster than a batter can swing, giving his opponents no chance. He’s being heralded as a game-changing pitcher. But within the maelstrom of press, adulation, and wild speculation, Frank is a man alone. Haunted by a tragic incident from years past, he yearns to be the best but cannot reconcile the guilt he carries with the man everyone believes him to be.
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Just Wonderful
- By Mars on 01-05-23
By: Mark Stevens
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Pete Rose
- An American Dilemma
- By: Kostya Kennedy
- Narrated by: Ben Bartolone
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Pete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from baseball for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown; today, the question "Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?" has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum.
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Good book, not so good production.
- By david d. on 05-01-14
By: Kostya Kennedy
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Where Nobody Knows Your Name
- Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball
- By: John Feinstein
- Narrated by: John Feinstein
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
John Feinstein is one of the most influential sportswriters of the last three decades. In his masterful new audiobook, Where Nobody Knows Your Name, Feinstein delivers a fascinating account of the mysterious proving ground of America’s national pastime, pulling back the veil on the minor leagues of baseball.
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Living on the Cusp of a Dream
- By W Perry Hall on 04-09-14
By: John Feinstein
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The Chicago Cubs
- Story of a Curse
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the Chicago Cubs have always been more than a team: they've been the protagonists of a King Arthur epic, in search of the Holy Grail that is winning the World Series. A chronicle of the last few miraculous seasons as experienced through the prism of Cubs history, The Chicago Cubs tracks the famous curse, which was placed on the team in 1945 by the infamous owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, who was ejected from Wrigley Field when he tried to bring his goat into the grandstand for the fifth game of the World Series.
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just listen and it all happens again
- By Z. Kuhn on 10-28-17
By: Rich Cohen
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The Journey Home
- My Life in Pinstripes
- By: Jorge Posada, Gary Brozek
- Narrated by: Lorenzo Irizarry
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For 17 seasons the name Jorge Posada was synonymous with New York Yankees baseball. A fixture behind home plate throughout the Yankees biggest successes, Jorge became the Yankees' star catcher almost immediately upon his arrival, and in the years that followed, his accomplishments, work ethic, and leadership established him as one of the greatest Yankees ever to put on the uniform.
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Jorge who?!!
- By Jacques on 11-30-22
By: Jorge Posada, and others
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When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!
- By: Yogi Berra, Dave Kaplan
- Narrated by: Dale Berra
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Yogi Berra is one of America's most beloved baseball players of all time, known as much for his wit and humor as he is for his exploits with the New York Yankees. In this new book, Yogi provides inspiring, funny, and surprisingly moving essays on life, happiness, and getting through the slumps.
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Super fun to hang out with Yogi for a few hours
- By K. B. Rollins on 08-21-21
By: Yogi Berra, and others
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Seasons in Hell
- With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and "The Worst Baseball Team in History"-The 1973-1975 Texas Rangers
- By: Mike Shropshire
- Narrated by: Peter Powlus
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Offering wonderful perspectives on dozens of unique (and likely never-to-be-seen-again) baseball personalities, Seasons in Hell recounts some of the most extreme characters ever to play the game and brings to life the no-holds-barred culture of major league baseball in the mid-'70s.
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If you followed MLB in the 70's or 80's !!!!
- By Eric on 03-09-16
By: Mike Shropshire
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Wherever I Wind Up
- My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball
- By: R. A. Dickey, Wayne Coffey
- Narrated by: Ben Hunter
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
> The Glass Castle meets Ball Four as Mets knuckleballer R. A. Dickey weaves searing honesty and baseball insight in this memoir about his unlikely journey to the big leagues. An English Lit major at the University of Tennessee, Dickey is as articulate and thoughtful as any professional athlete in any sport - and proves it page after page, as he provides fresh and honest insight into baseball and a career unlike any other.
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Marred (for me) by unfortunate performance issues
- By Anthony on 03-28-13
By: R. A. Dickey, and others
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The Boys of Summer
- The Classic Narrative of Growing Up Within Shouting Distance of Ebbets Field, Covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and What's Happened to Everybody Since
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This is a story about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a story by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is the story about what happened to the team when their glory days were behind them.
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Classic book!
- By Christopher Arthur on 11-19-17
By: Roger Kahn
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Dollar Sign on the Muscle
- The World of Baseball Scouting
- By: Kevin Kerrane
- Narrated by: Patrick Kerrane
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Humorous case histories and profiles of great baseball scouts accompany a discussion of the trade secrets of baseball scouts, the economics of scouting, player development, and the history of the profession. In a new epilogue Kevin Kerrane explores the world of baseball scouting in the late 1990s.
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Good for diehards, but dated and riddled w errors
- By Kindle Customer on 03-02-17
By: Kevin Kerrane
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The Big Bam
- The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For 85 years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century...more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
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The Big Bam
- By Alan on 06-13-06
By: Leigh Montville
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The Big Field
- By: Mike Lupica
- Narrated by: Christopher Evan Welch
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Hutch has always played shortstop. His idol Derek Jeter, plays the position, and more importantly, so did his father. But when a better shortstop joins the team, Hutch must move to second base. With his father's shadow looming and the championship on the line, Hutch will need to make the adjustment quickly.
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never a dull moment
- By John Zauner on 05-07-18
By: Mike Lupica
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The Last Boy
- Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood
- By: Jane Leavy
- Narrated by: Jane Leavy, John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul.
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The Man Behind the Myth
- By Ray on 11-12-10
By: Jane Leavy
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Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
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Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slave owner while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government.
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An honest portrait of DPR
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Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than 200 years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?”
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Just OK. Too Tangential & Distracting
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Only for Poker Fans. Not much there if you arent.
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In 40 years, Earth's population will reach 10 billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups - Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin.
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Fantastic
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Elio Morillo’s life is abruptly spun out of orbit when economic collapse and personal circumstances compel his mother to flee Ecuador for the United States in search of a better future for her son. His itinerant childhood sets into motion a migration that will ultimately carry Elio to the farthest expanse of human endeavor: space.
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Such an inspiring story.
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Wanderlust
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Deep in the Arctic wilderness, Peter Freuchen awoke to find himself buried alive under the snow. During a sudden blizzard the night before, he had taken shelter underneath his dogsled and become trapped there while he slept. Now, as feeling drained from his body, he managed to claw a hole through the ice only to find himself in even greater danger: his beard, wet with condensation from his struggling breath, had frozen to his sled runners and lashed his head in place, exposing it to icy winds that needed only a few minutes to kill him. If Freuchen could escape that, he could escape anything.
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Amazingly in-depth look at an amazing person.
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The Bad Guys Won
- A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform - and Maybe the Best
- By: Jeff Pearlman
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It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin's left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake-hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox.
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Maybe 3.5
- By Lifeisshort on 02-15-22
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Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama
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Bob Odenkirk’s career is inexplicable. And yet he will try like hell to explicate it for you. Charting a “Homeric” decades-long “odyssey” from his origins in the seedy comedy clubs of Chicago to a dramatic career full of award nominations - with a side trip into the action-man world that is baffling to all who know him - it’s almost like there are many Bob Odenkirks! But there is just one and one is plenty. Featuring humorous tangents, wild characters, and Bob’s trademark unflinching drive, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama is a classic tale told by a determined idiot.
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- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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True West: Sam Shepard’s Life, Work, and Times is the story of an American icon, a lasting portrait of Sam Shepard as he really was, revealed by those who knew him best. This sweeping biography charts Shepard’s long and complicated journey from a small town in Southern California to become an internationally known playwright and movie star. The only son of an alcoholic father, Shepard crafted a public persona as an authentic American archetype: the loner, the cowboy, the drifter, the stranger in a strange land.
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Wow!
- By A.C. CALLOWAY on 08-21-23
What listeners say about Ball Four
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- K. Palmer
- 04-20-12
The Only Man Who Could Tell It...
My story is almost exactly like a previous reviewer. I probably read Ball Four for the first time when I was around 15 and listened to Jim Bouton's reading at age 48. And I've read it numerous times in between. Only Jim can do this story justice. Sure, there are editing issues (at one point, there's about 30 seconds of Jim obviously turning pages as well as a couple of abrupt edits). But when you hear him laugh at his funny stories and cry while discussing the death of his beloved daughter Laurie, you know it's genuine. Whenever he talked about Laurie, the car got a little dusty, I have to admit. He's right, if you've been a fan for years, you are family. The only thing I wish is that they added his follow-up book "I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally" to this. I've read that a couple of times over the years and it would fit well. But, otherwise, a great reading of a great book by a great man!
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27 people found this helpful
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- SAL
- 05-03-12
Baseball fans everywhere!! Listen to this one!
That the author read this really lent so much more to the content. He made himself laugh AND cry. Hated to hear it end. Thanks Jim! You rock!
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4 people found this helpful
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- JR Parz
- 02-15-20
Wow would be an understatement...
I was ten years old in 1969, so I didn't read this book until the mid seventies and the only thing I remember about it was that Jim Bouton criticized my hero, Carl Yastrzemski. I guess it's safe to say I wasn't too happy...
Anyway, I commute an hour to work everyday, so I've become a tremendous fan of audio books - as a good book will allow me to escape the tedious chore of driving I have to do, and in-between my Jack Reacher novels and 'The Equalizer' novels, I went shopping for some baseball themed audio books written about the players of the sixties and seventies. I smiled at the fact that Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" was available because I knew this time I could truly appreciate the book, but I must say "The Final Pitch" version of Ball Four, which provides much more insight and a wrap to his life, I got a ton more than I had ever expected.
This time (thanks to my memories of a baseball card collection & simply being older) I knew the names Jim talked about... getting a kick out of Gary Bell and that ole Pilots manager... and found myself living his life through his eyes... and yeah, there was a ton of out loud laughing... and I was awestruck at how incredible he performed during his 1978 comeback... but near the end of this tremendous audio book I found myself heartbroken at his (and his family's) loss.
Jim Bouton passed away last year and to be honest, I don't recall even knowing about it. I don't follow the game of baseball like I used to when Yaz played... but thanks to YouTube I got to view a ton of great stuff about Jim Bouton and even watched his comeback to the Yankees old timers game in 1998.
I found this book incredibly interesting and truly appreciated the ride... and now I appreciate Jim Bouton more than ever before. Not necessarily for his prowess on the pitching mound (after all - Yaz hit 3 homeruns and batted over .300 against him in 19 at bats,) but because of the human being he was... and I can't recommend this book enough...
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jim M
- 09-28-15
Good "re-read" of an old favorite
If you could sum up Ball Four in three words, what would they be?
I had read this book in high school but wanted to refresh my memory. I forgot most of it and enjoyed the author's reading of his own story. You can feel his emotion as he reads. He chuckles when he recalls a funny story, and exhibits pain when he tells a sad one.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Ball Four?
A reminder of what sports and baseball used to be. It was before free agency and the boom in salaries in all sports. They struggled over $500 a season.
Have you listened to any of Jim Bouton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Somewhat. It's a long book and I usually only listen on my 30 minute commute to work and back. However, I did find myself sitting in my driveway now and then wanting to finish a few of the stories.
Any additional comments?
I think Jim Bouton is more famous for the book than for his pitching record. Few remember that he won 20 games in a season for the Yankees or actually pitched in the World Series.
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2 people found this helpful
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- SouthwestDude
- 05-11-18
Brilliant and sad and so very human
I have read Ball Four at least 10 times and was excited to hear Jim do the narration. I had no idea how much I would enjoy hearing his voice brung the 1969 Seattle Pilots alive. As a 12 year old I saw Jim pitch that year in Anaheim. Little did I know how much his book would impact my life.
The section on the loss of his daughter is devastating and yet so very poignant. I love you, Jim Bouton.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jordan Presnell
- 03-25-17
Absolutely, a must read!
I honestly feel like I'm part of Bulldogs family after finishing the book. A must read.
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- Battman
- 06-04-12
Better Than the Original!
I decided to go back and read Jim Bouton's iconic 1970 novel, "Ball Four." So when I went to Audible to download it, I was delighted to discover that Jim Bouton himself was the reader. And I also learned that I would be listening to the updated version, which included all of the updates he had added whenever they re-published the book.
What a treat.
It doesn't always work well when the author does the reading, but Bouton was a terrific reader. You felt you were sitting down in the living room and listening to his stream of consciousness as he talked about his career and especially his 1969 year with the Pilots and Astros - then as he updated the book in his several epilogues. He laughed as he was telling a funny story, and you knew no one else could read it quite the same way.
With the good comes the bad, however; in his last chapter (which is why the newest version is called "Ball Four: The Final Pitch"), he talks about the sudden death of his 31-year old daughter, Laurie, who was rear-ended in a fatal car accident. Jim could barely get the words out as he recounts those horrible hours, days and year afterwards. I challenge any of you to keep a dry eye as he struggles to read his own words. Or when the Yankees finally ask him back - after 28 years in "exile" - to the annual Old Timers Game at Yankee Stadium.
So if you get the same notion - to go back and read the book - make sure you get the latest edition. And I guarantee you will not be disappointed if you listen to the audio version instead.
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- Bruce Kaufmann
- 06-02-20
Sorry I didn't get to see Jim pitch
The author did a really good job as the narrator. Being a Red Sox fan I was not knowledgeable about most of the Yankees so the book left me disappointed that I never saw Bouton throw his knuckler.
The latter part of the story left me teary eyed.
Jim, you will be missed.
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- Henry David Clarke
- 08-14-19
One of the best on Audible
I guess it’s a baseball book, but really it’s about ambition, failure, success, loss, and being alive. It’s about being on the outside when you wish you were an insider, and making the choice to stay true to yourself when it would be easy to bow. Read by the author, it’s a hugely moving performance - countless laughs, and a few big cries. Great.
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- Curtinator
- 06-11-20
One of the best listens ever
I loved this book. As a matter of juxtaposition, when I started listening to this, i had just shut off the book by Nick Offerman. Wow what a contrast. I couldn't finish Offerman's book because it was so bombastic, self-congratulatory an self-lauding. This, by contrast was thought-provoking and inquisitive. From a baseball book! I came to love this guy from listening to him tell his story. What a humble individual who has a lot of very sensible methods of thinking about the world. I wish there were more like him and i wish he was still alive so I could email him and tell him how much his book makes sense --maybe even more now, 50 years after it was written. How many books get more relevant with age. Rest in peace Mr Bouton and I hope your legacy of meaningful self-examination no matter who you are lives on as a legacy.
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