But you've got to understand, in those days most guys who played professional baseball had, you know, a little more than a high school education. SAGAL: But did the other players get mad at you for telling tales out of the locker room, I guess?īOUTON: Well, some of the guys did. My average salary for eight years in the major leagues was $19,000. JIM BOUTON: Well, there was a great deal of objection from two quarters, one with the sportswriters.īOUTON: Because they didn't have the access I had and they had been sort of pushing, you know, a milk and cookies Boy Scout kind of view of players.īOUTON: Also, the owners were against the book because 'Ball Four' was the first book to tell people how difficult it was to make a living in baseball.īOUTON: Minimum salary was $7,000. And Peter began by asking him about the reception to his tell-all baseball memoir, 'Ball Four,' when it came out in 1970. KASELL: Jim Bouton joined us onstage along with panelists Alonzo Bodden, Jessi Klein and Mo Rocca. So naturally we invited a former pitcher from the Yankees to join us on stage. Back in 2012 we did our show in Boston, home of the Red Sox. So we're getting out of town and bringing you some of our favorite bits. We have cabin fever, seasonal affective ditorder, rickets.

Listen, like a lot of people we have finally cracked after months of the polar vortex and blizzards and snow. And here's your host, at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Peter Sagal. CARL KASELL: From NPR and WEB Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT.DON'T TELL ME!, the NPR news quiz.

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