I had met them both before, back at the 2006 convention in Seattle, and had interviewed Jim on the phone a couple of times. There were several hundred people in the room. Sounded right to me.Īs I walked up onto the stage, I noticed that my assigned seat was right next to Jim’s. John and Jim are good friends, and John’s goal was that this be a love-fest for Jim and Paula. Bouton has been battling health issues, a story which broke in the New York Times that morning. John, an experienced hand at these panels, nonetheless had his own reasons to be anxious. We would be joined by Bouton and his wife, Paula Kurman.
I have communicated with both of them and admire their work, but we had not met until just minutes before going on stage. The other panelists were Marty Appel, whose long career in baseball began with the Yankees in 1968 when Bouton played for them, and Mitchell Nathanson, who is writing a book about Bouton. Knowing I would not eat, I ordered iced tea. As Ball Four had a huge impact on me, continues to have a huge impact on me, I was thrilled to be asked, but also a bit nervous. I was invited to participate because I wrote a long biographical article on Jim, and another on his famous book. John and I had a panel coming up at 1:00 to honor Jim Bouton, former major league pitching star and famous author, who would be on the panel with us.
John has been very kind to me over the years, and I am one of many who could say that. John is one of those people, like David Smith and a few others, that are such delightful regulars at the annual SABR convention that you don’t even bother bragging about knowing them anymore. At 12:00 on Saturday I had lunch with Chris Dial and John Thorn.
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