I’ve read probably thousands of books over the years, and to be honest they sometimes become a blur. But I have no trouble recalling vivid details from Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, a book I read nearly fifty years ago.
Bouton had been a promising, hard-throwing Yankee starter in the early 1960s, winning several World Series games, until he blew out his arm. (Indeed when I hear people bemoaning the “coddling” of pitchers today because “back in the day” young guys didn’t need innings limits, I often think of Bouton).
Unable to throw anything close to a 95 mph fastball, he tried to resurrect his career with a knuckleball, which he’d played around with earlier.