Ex-Yankee Star, Controversial Best-Selling Author Jim Bouton Dies

GREAT BARRINGTON, MA — Jim Bouton, a former World Series champion pitcher for the New York Yankees whose controversial tell-all insider's book, Ball Four, became a landmark best-seller but made him a pariah among many in the baseball world, passed away Wednesday at his home in Massachusetts, according to the New York Daily News.

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

As a rookie in 1962, the hard-throwing right-hander won seven games for the Yankees, who captured the World Series 4 games to 3 over the San Francisco Giants. In his sophomore campaign, he posted a 21-7 regular season record and pitched in the All-Star Game, though New York fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a four-game World Series sweep.

Bouton continued his successful career in 1964, posting an 18-13 record during the regular season, then winning two games against the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. For the second straight year, however, the Yankees dropped the Fall Classic, this time in seven games.

In the early days of his career, Bouton was noted for throwing so hard that he would often lose his hat upon completion of his delivery. That changed in 1965, however, when he developed a sore arm that plagued him for the rest of his playing days. He began developing a knuckleball, a pitch which places very little strain on the arm, in an attempt to salvage his career.

After winning just nine games over the next four seasons, Bouton was sold to the newly-created Seattle Pilots organization in 1968. The Pilots joined the American League for the 1969 season, and Bouton made the roster out of spring training as a relief pitcher. After being sent down to the minor leagues early in the year, he returned and appeared in 57 games, including one start, before being traded in late August to the Houston Astros.

After pitching in 16 games for the Astros to finish the year, and 29 more in 1970, Bouton was released just weeks after publication of his book, Ball Four. The book chronicled the 1969 season in diary format, but also included numerous stories about his tenure with the Yankees, many of which were deemed controversial. Among the items covered in the book were previously-taboo subjects such as amphetamine use, womanizing, player-management salary battles and the drinking and carousing habits of many big league stars, particularly Mickey Mantle.

Bouton was immediately vilified by many former teammates for publicly exposing their off-field antics. Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to coerce Bouton into signing a statement claiming the material in Ball Four was entirely fictional, calling the book "detrimental to baseball."

Many players stopped speaking to Bouton, most notably Mantle, who snubbed his former teammate for more than two decades; the pair did not reconcile until shortly before Mantle's death in 1995. Bouton was also never invited to Old Timer's Games at Yankee Stadium for more than a quarter-century, finally taking the mound to a standing ovation in 1998.

"He was a great teammate and a good friend," former Pilot outfielder Jim Gosger said. "I thought it was a great book. I’ve read it numerous times and I always laugh a lot knowing I was part of it. He made a few enemies, but everything he touched on was all true and his teammates knew it."

After his major league career ended, Bouton took a job as a sportscaster in New York City, then decided to attempt a baseball comeback in 1975 with the Portland Mavericks, an independent pro team in Oregon owned by actor Kurt Russell's father, Bing. A year later, he left baseball again after successfully pitching a TV series to CBS called Ball Four, based loosely on his book. Bouton starred in the show as pitcher Jim Barton, but the series was canceled after only five episodes were aired.

Bouton returned to the mound for a brief unsuccessful stint with a Chicago White Sox farm team in 1977, then made his way back to the Mavericks for the remainder of that season. It was in the Portland bullpen that Bouton befriended left-handed pitcher Rob Nelson; two years later, the two invented and successfully pitched "Big League Chew" to the Wrigley Co.; the shredded bubble gum in a tobacco-like pouch has sold more than 800 million units since debuting in 1980.

Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner signed Bouton to a minor-league contract in 1978. After winning 11 games with Double-A Savannah, he was promoted to the big league club in September, posting a 1-3 record in five appearances before retiring for good.

He authored several more books following his playing career, including Foul Ball, a non-fiction account of his unsuccessful attempt to save Wahconah Park, an aging minor league ballpark in Pittsfield, Mass., near his home in the Berkshires. He also was a popular motivational speaker.

Well into his seventies, Bouton remained connected to the game through participation in Vintage Base Ball games, played with old-style equipment and under 19th century rules. He also was a regular instructor at youth baseball clinics offered by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.

Bouton, who had suffered a stroke in 2012, is survived by his wife, Paula Kurman, as well as two children and six grandchildren.

Bouton invited young fans Mia and Alex Jensen into the dugout at a Vintage Base Ball game in Simsbury, Conn. in 2012. (Photo: Tim Jensen)