James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 1962 and 1978. He was also a best-selling author, actor, activist, sportscaster and one of the creators of Big League Chew.
Bouton played college baseball at Western Michigan University, before signing his first professional contract with the Yankees. He was a member of the 1962 World Series champions, appeared in the 1963 MLB All-Star Game, and won both of his starts in the 1964 World Series. Later in his career, he developed and threw a knuckleball. Bouton authored the 1970 baseball book Ball Four, which was a combination diary of his 1969 season and memoir of his years with the Yankees, Pilots, and Astros.
Amateur and college career
Bouton was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Gertrude (Vischer) and George Hempstead Bouton, an executive. He grew up as a fan of the New York Giants in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, where he lived until the age of 13. He lived with his family in Ridgewood, New Jersey until he was 15, when his family relocated to Homewood, Illinois. Bouton enrolled at Bloom High School, where he played for the school's baseball team.
Bouton won both his starts in the 1964 World Series. He beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2–1 with a complete-game six-hitter on October 10 on a walk-off home run by Mickey Mantle, then won again on October 14 at Busch Stadium, 8–3, backed by another Mantle homer and a Joe Pepitone grand slam. He was 2–1 with a 1.48 ERA in three career World Series starts. In October 1968, Bouton joined a committee of American sportsmen who traveled to the 1968 Summer Olympics, in Mexico City, to protest the involvement of apartheid South Africa. Bouton earned another win in July against the Red Sox with 1 innings of relief, again not allowing a hit. Over 57 appearances with the Pilots, he compiled a 2–1 record with a 3.91 ERA.
The Pilots traded him to the Houston Astros in late August, where Bouton was 0–2 with a 4.11 ERA in 16 appearances (one start).
Once his baseball career ended a second time, Bouton became one of the inventors of "Big League Chew", a shredded bubblegum designed to resemble chewing tobacco and sold in a tobacco-like pouch.
On June 21, 1998, (Father's Day) Bouton's oldest son Michael wrote an open letter to the Yankees, which was published in The New York Times, in which Michael described the agony of his father following the August 1997 death of Michael's sister Laurie at age 31, with Michael wishing that the Yankees would invite Bouton to their Old Timers Game on July 25 (he noted Yogi Berra's decision to not participate in the game as long as George Steinbrenner was owner, but he cited it as just as petty for Berra to spite Steinbrenner as it is for Steinbrenner to spite Bouton). Not long after, the Yankees elected to invite him to the Old Timers Game. On July 25, 1998, Bouton, sporting his familiar number 56, received a standing ovation when he took the mound at Yankee Stadium.
Personal life
Bouton and his first wife Bobbie had two children together, Michael and Laurie, and adopted a Korean orphan, Kyong Jo. Kyong Jo later changed his name to David. Bobbie and Bouton divorced in 1981. </blockquote>
In 1997, Laurie was killed in a car accident at age 31. Bouton later married Paula Kurman. They had six grandchildren.
In 2012, Bouton had a stroke that did not impair him physically but damaged his memory and speaking.
Bouton promoted the Vintage Base Ball Federation to form vintage clubs and leagues internationally, to codify the rules and equipment of its 19th-century origins, and to organize competitions.
Bouton was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention for George McGovern.
Bouton died at home on July 10, 2019, after weeks of hospice care for cerebral amyloid angiopathy, at age 80.
Written works
- Ball Four has been through numerous significantly revised editions, the most recent being Ball Four: The Final Pitch, Bulldog Publishing. (April 2001), .
- I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally
- I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad – edited and annotated by Bouton, compiled by Neil Offen.
- Foul Ball, Bulldog Publishing. (June 2003), .
- Strike Zone, Signet Books. (March 1995), (with Eliot Asinof).
See also
- List of knuckleball pitchers