Turner Publishing Releases "Foul Ball" By "Ball Four" Author Jim Bouton with Jesse Thorn to Narrate Audiobook

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Turner Publishing Company announced today the re-release of Foul Ball by Jim Bouton, the former Yankee pitcher and legendary author of Ball Four, a New York Public Library Book of the Century selection and one of Time Magazine's "100 Greatest Non-Fiction Books." 

Foul Ball is the behind-the-scenes story of Bouton's valiant efforts to save Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, one of the oldest ballparks in the United States. In his first detailed diary since Ball Four, Bouton brings back his trademark wit and distinctive voice in recounting the battle against the local power elite's corrupt efforts to replace Wahconah Park, despite the wishes and votes of local citizens.

Jim Bouton's wife, Paula Kurman, wrote the foreword for Foul Ball. "You don't tear down an old historic ballpark without hearing from Jim,'" said Kurman. "As always, Jim was prescient. This is essentially a political story, even though the central character is an old ballpark. It's the story of keeping the doors to power closed to Outsiders, meaning anyone who will not play the game by the rules of the power brokers. Although looking at corruption is never pretty, when Jim Bouton tells the story, you have to laugh at the absurdities of human nature. And a good laugh is a good thing."

John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball, said, "Jim Bouton thought that failure—even his own—could be funny as well as aggravating and sad. He brought that sardonic view to Ball Four and he brings it to Foul Ball, the story of his byzantine battles with some benighted folks in Pittsfield, Mass. Jim thought that baseball was beautiful and so was Wahconah Park, so why couldn't they get along? Here's why, beautifully introduced by Paula Kurman, Jim's beloved missuz."

Jesse Thorn, proprietor of MaximumFun.org and host and producer of Bullseye, Jordan, Jesse, Go!, and Judge John Hodgeman, will narrate the audiobook. The digital audiobook is set to release late summer 2021. "What does baseball mean to a place? What does a place mean to baseball?" Jim Bouton found himself asking these questions when a ballpark he loved, in a town he loved, was under threat. Being Jim Bouton, he did something about it—and got himself entangled in something much more complicated than a night out with some kids and some hot dogs he was fighting to preserve. "It's exciting and intriguing, juicy and inspiring, and funny. In other words: classic Bouton," said Thorn.

Foul Ball is available everywhere books and audiobooks are sold.

About Turner Publishing Company:

Founded in 1985, Turner Publishing Company is an award-winning independent publisher based in Nashville, Tennessee, that currently publishes more than 5,000 titles. It has been named five times to Publisher Weekly's Fastest Growing Publishers List. https://www.turnerpublishing.com/

Media Contact:
Lauren Ash
Turner Publishing
615-255-2665
[email protected] 

SOURCE Turner Publishing Company