ANALYSIS/OPINION:
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — Mike Wallace, the guardian of the Washington Nationals clubhouse galaxy, asked what I was up to this particular day of spring training.
“I’m on a quest,” I said. “I read the book ‘Ball Four’ before every baseball season. I wondered if any of these guys have even heard of it, let alone read it.”
“I doubt if these guys have even heard of Jim Bouton, Joe Schultz or the Seattle Pilots,” he replied.
Wally knows his “Ball Four.”
A must-read for fans of a certain era, “Ball Four,” co-authored by pitcher Jim Bouton and sportswriter Leonard Schechter, was the first real behind-the-scenes book about the life of baseball.