The thing about Jim Bouton that always amazed me — and warmed my heart — was the pure joy he derived from his masterpiece, “Ball Four.”
“I have lived with the book for so long now, and had so many conversations with people over the years, that the characters, my teammates, have become like members of my family,” Bouton told me in 2009 during one of several interviews I was privileged to have with him.
“I honestly have developed very loving feelings about every single one of them.”
Because of that book, which was transformational for me as a teenager and for millions of others who were given a shocking/hilarious/irreverent/authentic glimpse inside Major League Baseball baseball, the Seattle Pilots will live on forever.