Former MLB pitcher Jim Bouton, who wrote the critically acclaimed and controversial Ball Four that detailed his 1969 season, passed away Wednesday at the age of 80.
Per Brian Niemietz and Larry McShane of the New York Daily News, Bouton was in hospice care in Massachusetts after fighting a brain disease connected to dementia.
Ball Four detailed the behind-the-scenes lives of ballplayers during an era where more controversial details of athletes' lives were largely kept under wraps. In that sense, the book was far ahead of its time, as virtually nothing is secret during the social-media age.