Foul Ball

In his first diary since Ball Four, Jim Bouton recounts his amazing adventure trying to save a historic ballpark in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Host to organized baseball since 1892, Wahconah Park was soon to be abandoned by the owner of the Pittsfield Mets, who would move his team to a new stadium in another town—an all too familiar story.

Enter Bouton and his partner with the best deal ever offered to a community—a locally owned professional baseball team and a privately restored city-owned ballpark at no cost to the taxpayers.

The only people who didn't like Bouton's plan were the Mayor, the Mayor's hand-picked Parks Commissioners, a majority of the City Council, the only daily newspaper, the city's largest bank, it's most powerful law firm, and a guy from General Electric. Everyone else—or approximately 98% of the citizens of Pittsfield—loved it.

The "good old boys" hated Bouton's plan because it would put a stake in the heart of a...