This book was especially poignant for me, as Bouton wrote it on the cusp of turning 30, and helped me put into perspective a lot my lessons learned from my years playing baseball.

While professional athletes are sometimes put on a pedestal, I think it's worth remembering that they (just like all other 'heroes') are just regular people at the end of the day, flaws and all. I enjoyed Bouton's authentic voice throughout and his ability to show baseball players as imperfect human beings.You find all types of personalities within baseball teams and bringing them all together in pursuit of a common goal (i.e., winning games) is often extremely challenging. I recognized many past teammates and coaches within the book's characters.As someone who spent the majority of my formative years (from 8 to 22) playing baseball, this book resonated with me on a number of levels.The story is as much a human-interest piece as it is a baseball book, as he documents both his personal challenges with the sport and coming of age.Bouton documents his year with the team (in a journal like format) and intersperses anecdotes from some of his earlier years with other teams (he pitched in the World Series with the Yankees earlier in his career), while shedding light on the various personalities on his teams (both current and former).Jim Bouton, a starter turned relief pitcher, is attempting to resurrect his baseball career as a knuckleballer with the expansion Seattle Pilots, a team with a rag-tag bunch of players and coaches.

Books by jim bouton