As much a cultural artifact as a memoir, “Ball Four” shook the baseball world when it was published and got knuckleballer Jim Bouton ostracized from the sport. The chronicled 1969 was 3 years before Free Agency, only 21 years since Jackie Robinson integrated the sport, and had Bouton fighting for a spot on the expansion team Seattle Pilots. Bouton’s scandal was exposing baseball for what it really is: a bunch of boys, stuck in adolescence, playing a game. The idea of stars like Mickey Mantle being a big drinker or Roger Maris refusing kids autographs, players constantly swearing, taking speed, womanizing, etc. upset a lot of people. Bouton’s real sin was exposing the owners for the greedy capitalists they were. The book is great fun to read, especially if you’re amused by the sophomoric shenanigans of ball players. The only thing shocking to today’s reader would be what passed for liberal in 1969. This will be remembered as the book that humanized athletes, which was exactly Bouton’s goal. After all, “[baseball] all looks so much more serious than it really is.”