Yankees Pitcher & ‘Ball Four’ Author Dies

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. (AP) – Former New York Yankees pitcher and controversial baseball author Jim Bouton has died at age 80.  Throwing so hard that his cap flew off his head, Bouton was 21-8 with six shutouts in 1963, his second season in the majors. He went 18-13 with four more shutouts in 1964 before winning a pair of World Series games against the Cardinals that fall.  But his playing career was forever eclipsed by his 1970 book “Ball Four,” the first tell-all baseball memoir that angered many in the game’s establishment. It chronicled his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros, but it also detailed Yankees great Mickey Mantle’s carousing, and the use of stimulants in the major leagues. He was ostracized by players and management for exposing those secrets, waiting decades to be invited to a Yankees Old Timer’s game.  Bouton’s family said he died Wednesday at the home he shared with wife Paula Kurman. He fought a brain disease linked to dementia and was in hospice care. Bouton also had two strokes in 2012.