Is Jose Canseco the new Jim Bouton?

December 20, 2007

There are similarities, according to Jon Friedman of Marketwatch.

This wouldn’t be the first time that a baseball player was scorned by sportswriters for telling the truth and hurling a big exclusive in their faces. In 1970, the landmark “Ball Four” was published and set a standard for the genre of sports books. It was the hilarious and stinging tale of how many baseball players depended on “greenies” — the dugout nickname for uppers — to help them stay sharp, especially when they had nagging injuries or hangovers.

Author Jim Bouton, a once-promising Yankee pitcher in the early 1960s whose career went south after injuries, was castigated by sportswriters for writing it. (One went so far as to call him a social leper). But Bouton, too, told the truth and blew the lid off a scandal that made the leaders of the national pastime squirm a bit. (emphasis added)

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Tagged as: baseball books, Jim Bouton, Jose Canseco, steroids

{ 1 comment }

1 Pops O'Maxfield December 20, 2007 at 4:34 pm

There is a big difference between Bulldog Bouton and Jose Canseco. Jim Bouton is a creative author who was able to play professional baseball. Jose Canseco will never be a creative author who was able to play baseball. These two guys are apples and screwdrivers… there is no comparison,

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