The year was 1969, and an aging pitcher, trying to reinvent himself as a knuckleballer, chronicles the ups and downs of his season with the expansion Seattle Pilots in this seminal baseball book.  Jim Bouton broke all the rules by telling the real stories about what happens in behind the clubhouse doors and, in the process, ruffles some feathers and finds himself blackballed from the game he loves.

Bouton gives a day by day account of his year with the newly christened Seattle Pilots, starting in spring training and taking us through the long season, including his late August trade to the Astros.  This edition includes epilogues from the 10 year anniversary, which covered his comeback attempt in 1978 with Ted Turner and the Braves, the 20 year anniversary, and the 30 year anniversary, covering the death of his daughter and his finally being invited back to Old Timers Day with the Yankees.

45 years after its initial release, some of the shocks are no longer shocking.  There have been plenty of tell-all books since, but this was the first.  As a baseball fan, I’m surprised I never read this earlier.  Now, I’m glad that I did, not just for Bouton’s story, but for the chronicling of the Pilots one and only season.