Remembering Jim Bouton and His Keynote at Affiliate Summit
I first read Ball Four by Jim Bouton in the 90's and I fell in love with the candid, behind the scenes peek at MLB locker rooms. As a New York Yankees fan I was excited by the stories about the 60's legends, including my favorite, Mickey Mantle.
One of my first affiliate sites was about Ball Four and Jim Bouton even mentioned it in the 2000 update of the book. http://www.ballfourbook.com
We stayed in touch over the years and I became a collector of Ball Four and Seattle Pilots memorabilia.
So it was a huge thrill when I asked him to keynote Affiliate Summit East 2006 and he said yes. He was a great inspiration and story teller, and I was captivated during his talk.
But the highlight for me was the time before he spoke when we just hung out and he told me old baseball stories. These were stories he experienced first hand with the legends of the game back in the 60's.
I'll never forget that day - thank you, Jim. Rest in peace.
“A ballplayer spends a good piece of his life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” - Jim Bouton
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