Jim Bouton, Former Yankees Pitcher, Bloom Graduate, Dies At 80

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — Jim Bouton, a former World Series champion pitcher for the New York Yankees and Bloom High School graduate, died Wednesday at his home in Massachusetts.

His controversial tell-all insider's book, Ball Four, became a landmark best-seller but made him a pariah among many in the baseball world, the New York Daily News writes.

Bouton had been in hospice care during his battle with a dementia-related brain disease, the paper reported. He was 80.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Bouton graduated from Bloomafter his family moved to Chicago Heights from New Jersey when he was a teenager. He suffered two strokes in 2012.

Read more in the Tribune.