Foul Ball: My Life and Hard Times Trying to Save an Old Ballpark - Hardcover

Bouton, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0970911718 ISBN 13: 9780970911711

Publisher: Bulldog Pub, 2003

Synopsis

Foul Ball is the behind-the-scenes story of Bouton's efforts to save Wahconah Park, one of the oldest ballparks in the United States, located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, not far from his home in the Berkshires. With his trademark wit and distinctive voice, Bouton recounts his battle against the local power elite, who wanted to build a new stadium to replace Wahconah Park, a project the citizens had voted against three different times.But Foul Ball is more than a hilarious romp about saving an old ballpark. In a detailed diary-his first since Ball Four-Bouton takes us along on his wild ride, into the teeth of corporate malfeasance, anti-democratic process, the tyranny of a one-newspaper town, and the real reason why the good old boys wanted to build a new stadium.

About this title

About the Author:

Jim Bouton was a major league pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves. His book, Ball Four, was entered into evidence at the decisive arbitration hearing that led to free-agency in baseball, and the New York Public Library included it as one of its Books of the Century.

From Booklist:

Bouton has been raising hell with the baseball establishment since 1970, when his landmark Ball Four revealed the frat-party side of the grand old game. Now he lines up against the economic lynchpin of pro sports: publicly funded stadiums. Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is the site of venerable Wahconah Park, home to various minor-league teams since 1892. Bouton and most of the area's citizenry feel the stadium should be repaired, updated, and preserved. The city government, however, along with various business interests, wants to build a new $18 million stadium--at taxpayer expense. This relatively small skirmish is portrayed by Bouton as a microcosm of the publicly funded sports facility battles that have been fought around the country. Typically, taxpayers foot the bill--under the pressure of team abandonment--so owners and players can get rich. Bouton, humor intact and sense of irony sharpened, chronicles the battle between the forces of fiscal responsibility and those who would build the new stadium (on a toxic waste dump). The good guys win this time, as the old ballpark is saved, at least temporarily, but Bouton paints a distinctly disturbing picture of corporate greed and taxpayer exploitation. Interestingly, Bouton's original publisher pulled out under pressure from pro-stadium business interests, leaving the author to publish his expose himself. Wes Lukowsky
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About this edition

• Publisher: Bulldog Pub
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0970911718
• ISBN 13: 9780970911711
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 354