Good day all!
Came
across this nice image of former pitcher Jim Bouton and his 1978 Major
League comeback and even though I already created a 1979 "not really
missing in action" card six years ago here on the blog, thought I'd go
ahead and create a second version for the fun of it:
Once a young stud with the New York Yankees in the early 1960’s, posting
a 21-win season at the age of 24, followed by an 18-win campaign the
next season, he soon developed arm trouble and found himself out of
baseball in 1970 at the young age of 31 after a season and a half with
the Houston Astros.
Fast-forward eight years to 1978, most notably after writing the now legendary baseball book “Ball Four”, and Bouton made it all the way back as a 39-year old knuckleball pitcher, appearing in five games, all starts, going 1-3 with a 4.97 earned run average in 29 innings of work.
Though the comeback was short, it was definitely sweet as I remember it really brought Bouton back into the spotlight, giving his book new life, just enough for a ten year old kid from Brooklyn a cool book to read from the library!
Fast-forward eight years to 1978, most notably after writing the now legendary baseball book “Ball Four”, and Bouton made it all the way back as a 39-year old knuckleball pitcher, appearing in five games, all starts, going 1-3 with a 4.97 earned run average in 29 innings of work.
Though the comeback was short, it was definitely sweet as I remember it really brought Bouton back into the spotlight, giving his book new life, just enough for a ten year old kid from Brooklyn a cool book to read from the library!
