Jim Bouton's playing career was not without accomplishment.
As a 23 year old rookie, he was a member of the last Yankees World Series winner before the Great Fall, the sale to CBS, and the Years in the Wilderness. He became a fixture in the Bombers' rotation the next season, and he went 21-7, 2.53 and pitched in the All-Star Game. A larger audience saw him in the third game of the World Series that fall and was immediately struck by the sight of a young pitcher who threw so hard and so violently that his cap regularly flew off his head.