Jim Bouton’s baseball diary “Ball Four” is considered by many to be the best book ever written about the sport.
Whenever someone asks me to name my favorite baseball book, I respond with little hesitation. Ball Four, I inevitably say. It may not have been the first book to delve into the game’s behind-the-scenes antics in the clubhouse—that honor probably belongs to the two underrated books written by Jim Brosnan in the early 1960s—but it was the first tell-all to be written with such an appealing mix of day-to-day humor, candor, drama, and self-deprecation.
The book is so good that it has motivated me to read it several times. Each time, I pick up on something new and take hold of a new image of an old ballplayer. The opportunity to expand our knowledge of the game remains the sign of a truly lasting book.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the publication of Ball Four, which became a surprise best seller in 1970, much to the chagrin of Commissioner Bowe Kuhn and others within the conservative sport. Forty five years represents a significant passage of time, but the book retains its impact. That’s what a classic book does, and there are few baseball classics that continue to hold our attention as well as Ball Four does.
In writing about his tumultuous 1969 season, pitcher-turned-author Jim Bouton took us where most writers had been unwilling to venture. He covered topics that were considered taboo, but only helped us see the human side of ballplayers. He also happened to pitch for two teams that summer—the expansion Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros—giving him two full sets of colorful and offbeat teammates. Among those teammates, Bouton played with a number of former and future Detroit Tigers.
Forty five years after the fact, let’s catch up on what has happened to those Tigers of Ball Four. Some are gone, some have become obscure, but none should be forgotten. Here’s an update on where they are now.
Seattle Pilots
Ray Oyler: Despite spending most of the 1968 world championship season as their starting shortstop, the Tigers left the light-hitting Ray Oyler exposed to the expansion draft. The Pilots drafted him and made him their No. 1 shortstop. Bouton referred to him often throughout Ball Four, creating the impression of a man who liked his four-letter words and enjoyed doling out sarcastic humor.
Almost immediately, Oyler became more popular in Seattle than he had ever been in Detroit. A hot start to his season prompted a Seattle dee-jay to start a campaign to help Oyler maintain a batting average of .300 or better for the entire season. The campaign resulted in the formation of the Oyler “Soc It To Me” fan club.
Oyler did not hit .300 for the season—far from it, he ended the year at .165—but he retained a cult following among Pilots fans. In spite of his unusual level of popularity, the Pilots traded Oyler and veteran right-hander Diego Segui to the Oakland A’s after the season. But Oyler never appeared in a game for Oakland; near the end of spring training, the A’s redirected him to the California Angels, where he served as a defensive caddy. Oyler played sparingly, appearing in only 29 games, before his career came to an end.
Though he had spent far more of his career in Detroit, Oyler decided to settle in the Seattle area, largely because of his popularity there and his general attraction to life in the Northwest. He managed a bowling alley and also worked for the Boeing Company and Safeway supermarkets.
Sadly, Oyler was a heavy drinker, a problem that may have contributed to his untidy appearance. (As Bouton wrote in Ball Four, Oyler looked like the oldest player on the team, even though he was only in his late twenties.) More significantly, it is likely that Oyler’s problems with alcoholism contributed to the heart attack that took his life only 11 years after the release of Ball Four. Gone long before his time, Oyler was only 42.
Wayne Comer: Like Oyler, Wayne Comer was taken from the Tigers in the expansion draft by the Pilots, but not until the 41st selection. Given such a late drafting, the expectations were not high for the former Tigers prospect, but he responded with a fine season in Seattle, hitting 15 home runs and drawing 84 walks. Those numbers made him one of the most productive of the Pilots players. He also seemed to be one of the Pilots who didn’t like Bouton. As he said of Bouton on more than one occasion, “Get him the bleep out of here.”
On the field, Comer never again matched his success of 1969, which helps explain his relative obscurity. He remained with the Pilots franchise through the following spring, when the team relocated to Milwaukee and became the Brewers. After beginning the 1970 season in a 1-for-17 slump, the impatient Brewers traded him to the Washington Senators for infielders Hank Allen and Ron Theobald. Given more playing time, Comer didn’t fare much better with the Senators and was sold back to the Tigers, his original team, during the winter. After spending all of 1971 in the minor leagues, Comer made his Tigers return in 1972 but was used sparingly as a utility outfielder and saw his major league career end quickly.
After two additional years in the minor leagues, Comer retired and became a sporting good salesman. He later pursued a career as a teacher and also served as the baseball coach at Spotswood High School in Virginia. Now retired from coaching and teaching, he continues to live in his hometown of Shenandoah, Virginia.
Mike Marshall: After pitching effectively for the Tigers in 1967, Marshall spent all of ’68 at Triple-A Toledo, working as a starting pitcher. Left unprotected in the expansion draft, the Pilots selected him with the No. 53 pick and used him as a combination starter and reliever. Marshall pitched poorly for the Pilots and feuded with pitching coach Sal Maglie, who wanted him to throw his curve ball. Marshall preferred throwing his screwball.
Not surprisingly, the Pilots dumped Marshall that winter, selling him to the Astros, where he continued to flounder. It was not until Marshall joined the Montreal Expos in the middle of the 1970 season that he began to flourish. Now encouraged to throw his screwball, he refined the pitch and became a dominant and durable closer, twice leading the National League in appearances as a member of the Expos. After the 1973 season, the Expos foolishly dealt their young relief star to the Los Angeles Dodgers for an aging Willie Davis.
Marshall became a superstar in 1974, when he threw a record-setting 208 innings in relief, won 15 games, and saved 21 others to capture the Cy Young Award. By now a household name, he would never again match those statistics, thanks in part to injuries, as he bounced from Los Angeles to Atlanta to Texas. He rediscovered himself with the Minnesota Twins in 1978 and ’79, where he pitched well as their closer, but his heavy involvement with the Players’ Association and his reputation as an anti-establishment type led to his release. He then finished out his playing days with the New York Mets, pitching well in middle relief but drawing no interest after the season.
Having earned his Ph.D. in kinesiology at Michigan State in 1978, Dr. Marshall turned to college coaching. Although highly intelligent, Marshall has never worked for a major league organization as a coach or instructor, leading to speculation that he has been blackballed because of his outspoken nature and his past work as a member of the Players Association.
Now living in Florida, Marshall has written two books on pitching and continues to preach his unconventional pitching theories to young hurlers willing to take a chance on his methods.
Manager Joe Schultz: After serving as a coach on Mayo Smith’s championship team, Schultz left the Tigers to become the Pilots’ manager. The Pilots then fired Schultz at season’s end—a fate that many of the players felt was undeserving given the relative lack of talent in Seattle. First baseman Don Mincher was particularly supportive of the job that Schultz had done with the Pilots. “He kept us fighting,” Mincher told The Sporting News, “kept us up through the worst of the losing streak.”
Schultz took another job with a different expansion team, becoming one of Charlie Metro’s coaches with the Kansas City Royals. Remaining with the Royals for just one season, Schultz moved on again at year’s end. In 1971, Tigers manager Billy Martin added Schultz to his staff.
During his coaching tenure with the Tigers, Schultz had an unwanted reunion with Bouton, who was working as a broadcaster with ABC Television. Bouton showed up in Bradenton, Florida, prior to a spring training game in 1971, only to be rebuffed by Schultz. The former Pilots skipper made it clear that he didn’t appreciate the way that Bouton portrayed him in the book, as something of a foul-mouthed buffoon with a penchant for urging his players with catch phrases, like “Pound that ole Budweiser into you, boys.” For his part, Bouton liked Schultz and felt he had portrayed him as folksy and charmingly offbeat, but his ex-manager did not share that opinion.
Schultz remained a Tigers coach through the rest of Martin’s term, then succeeded him as interim manager at the tail-end of the 1974 season. Schultz hoped the Tigers would consider him for the job full-time, but instead they turned to Ralph Houk. So Schultz retired to his home in St. Louis, where he resided until his death in 1996. Schultz was 77.
Houston Astros
Jack Billingham: Moving into the Astros’ starting rotation in 1970, the distant cousin of Christy Mathewson would enjoy two solid seasons in Houston before being included in the Joe Morgan-for-Lee May blockbuster. With the Cincinnati Reds, “Cactus Jack” emerged as a sinkerballing workhorse, leading the National League with 40 starts and seven shutouts in 1973.
Remaining a solid starter with the Reds, Billingham picked up two world championship rings in 1975 and ’76. After his ERA soared to 5.23 in 1977, the Reds traded him to the Tigers for two minor league prospects. Billingham pitched well for the Tigers, but age caught up with him in 1980, prompting a trade to the Boston Red Sox and his eventual release.
After his playing days, Billingham became a minor league pitching coach. Now retired, he lives in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
Jimmy Ray: Nicknamed “Sting” for obvious reasons, the hard-throwing right-hander gained some notoriety for brawling with fellow Astros pitcher Wade Blasingame on the team bus. According to Bouton, the fight earned Ray the additional nickname of “Ultraviolent” Ray.
Big and burly, Ray put up two good seasons in relief for the Astros in 1970 and 71. But Ray struggled the following two summers, prompting a trade to the Tigers for left-hander Fred Scherman. After a difficult 1974 season with the Tigers, Ray returned to the minor leagues for two seasons, but was ineffective and never made it back to the big leagues.
After his playing days, Ray lived a quiet life out of the public spotlight. He died in 2005 at the age of 60, but his death did not become known to the baseball world until 2013.
Fred Gladding: Gladding pitched for the Tigers from 1961 to 1967, but was traded to the Astros as the player to be named later in the Eddie Mathews deal. After a solid season for Houston in 1969, Gladding saved 18 more games in 1970. By 1971, he had redefined himself as a finesse pitcher. He struck out only 17 batters against 22 walks, but still lowered his ERA to 2.10. He put up similar numbers in 1972, before transitioning into a middle relief role the following summer.
As noted by Bouton in Ball Four, Gladding bore a resemblance to “Fred Flintstone,” the likeable lead character in the iconic cartoon show, The Flintstones. Always popular with teammates and fans, Gladding gained such notoriety in Houston that the scoreboard operator at the Astrodome displayed a character from The Flintstones whenever he entered a game.
After the 1973 season, Gladding opted for retirement, ending his career after 13 seasons. He briefly returned to the Tigers as a pitching coach; among others, he tutored a young Mark “The Bird” Fidrych during his sensational season of 1976. Gladding later put in time as a minor league pitching coach with the Astros and Cleveland Indians.
The former relief ace for the Tigers and Astros passed away on May 21, 2015, at the age of 78.
In our next installment on Ball Four, we’ll take a look at how a Tigers star was portrayed by Jim Bouton.