Ball Four @ 40 ... Bouton comes to L.A.

On the 40th anniversary of the Jim Bouton ground-breaking book, "Ball Four," written about his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston 45s, the Pasadena-based Baseball Reliquary is gearing up for a celebration Saturday at the Burbank Central Library (110 N. Glenoaks Blvd.) from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The day starts with a Q-and-A panel discussion on "Ball Four" with Bouton, who has flown in for the event from his home in Massachusetts with his wife Paula, joined by director Ron Shelton, author Jean Hastings Ardell and David Kipen, a former Daily News writer who was Director of Literature at the National Endowment for the Arts and is the current current proprietor of Libros Schmibros, a lending library and used bookstore in Boyle Heights.

The premier of the documentary, "The Seattle Pilots: Short Flight Into History" is at 1:30 p.m., and a 3 p.m. panel discussion on the history of the Pilots includes former players Bouton, Tommy Davis and Greg Goossen, the former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High standout who played on the team during its one and only season in 1969 and led them with a .309 batting average.

The day ends with a book signing by Bouton.

More information at the Baseball Reliquary (linked here) or at 626.791.7647, or by e-mail Baseball Reliquary director Terry Cannon at terymar@earthlink.net.

Info on directions to the library: (818) 238-5600.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

(Listen to Vin Scully call a clip of Bouton's performance in the 1963 World Series, and then watch Bouton strike out Davey Lopes in his comeback with the Atlanta Braves):

More background on "Ball Four" from recent media submissions:

== MLB.com's Ben Platt has this look back at the book, with video that the MLB Network's Bob Costas did of an interview with Bouton (linked here).

== Rock music critic Robert Christgau's essay, "Bouton Baseball," written in the spring of 1971, about a year after the book's initial publication: (linked here).

== Wall Street Journal sportswriter Allen Barra's piece, "Pitching Deep and Inside," from April 7, 2010: (linked here).

== Ron Kaplan's three-part podcast interview with Bouton on his site RonKaplanBaseballBookshelf.com: (linked here and here and here).

== Kaplan's piece, "The Legacy of Ball Four," for the Huffington Post: (linked here).

== National Public Radio Weekend Edition's Scott Simon interviewed Bouton for his show last Saturday: (linked here).

== A recent Q-and-A from BlueWorkhorse.com (linked here)