The now-late Jim Bouton gave us the lasting memory of 'Chicago Shirley'

I couldn't help but notice the reports Thursday about the death of one-time major league pitcher Jim Bouton at age 80.

Back in the days when Bouton was a future star

The one-time New York Yankee who is probably better known for his diary of the 1969 baseball season -- when he was struggling to hang on in baseball with the expansion team Seattle Pilots -- got his attention even though his death wasn't really a shock. He suffered a stroke in 2012, then later was diagnosed with a condition that could cause brain vessels to burst under pressure.

BUT I COULDN'T help but reach out to for my copy of "Ball Four," that diary from a half-century ago when Bouton offended much of the baseball world for telling the truth about some of the antics of the jocko world.

Such as the practical joke once played on fellow pitcher Fred Talbot, who hit a grand-slam home run in a ball game, then got a phony telegram purporting to be from a fan who won $27,500 in a local radio contest tied to the ballgame.

Supposedly, the "fan" was willing to share $5,000 of the prize with Talbot. Yeah, suurrre!

Which, by the way, happened 50 years ago this very week.

What Bouton will most be remembered for

SOME PEOPLE CLAIMED that such insider stories were an embarrassment to baseball. While others felt they offered some color by making ballplayers seem a tad more human -- rather than so jock-ish.

I actually re-read the book every spring. The coming of a new season always makes me want to revive a few past memories.

And I always get my kick out of his entry for June 15 -- which became an essay about the availability to ballplayers of women, particularly stewardesses,, who were a step up on the social scale from "baseball Annies" (a.k.a., groupies).

Where it seems the ultimate "Annie" was a woman known as "Chicago Shirley," who even held orientation briefings for rookie ballplayers to make her services known -- and Chicago was supposedly the best city because we have ballclubs in both leagues. Maybe that's why our ballclubs went for so many years champion-free.

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EXTRA: How baseball has changed

I dug out my copy of “Ball Four,” the diary that one-time major league pitcher Jim Bouton wrote of his 1969 season, and his recollections of the first contract he signed to play ball for the New York Yankees was noteworthy.

Major league minimum, and thankful for it

For the record, he got $6,000 (the then-major league minimum salary) to pitch in 1962. His contract was offered to him on Opening Day, just before the National Anthem was played for that game. He was told to “sign it!” because all rookie ballplayers were given $6,000.

BUT THAT WAS a half-century ago. Times truly have changed with baseball’s economics – and not just because the major league minimum now is $555,000 for a rookie ballplayer.

The Chicago White Sox have got their share of national attention for the contract they gave to outfielder Eloy Jimenez – one of the kid ballplayers whom the White Sox are banking on to become stars who revitalize the ballclub into champions.

Jimenez this week signed his first contract to play major league ball – he’ll likely be with the team when they have their April 4 Opening Day against the Seattle Mariners at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Yet Jimenez didn’t even have to think in terms of the major league “minimum” in terms of pay. He got a six-year deal, with two more seasons if the White Sox want them, with pay being $43 million (or more like $70 million-plus, if the White Sox add on those extra seasons).

Richest White Sox even before 1st game

IT ACTUALLY QUALIFIES for the most expensive, longest-term deal ever paid out by the White Sox to a single ballplayer. And he has yet to play in his first major league ballgame.

Yet this isn’t about spending money. It’s about saving it.

Because the White Sox are convinced that Jimenez will be such a big star that he’ll be capable of demanding even higher payouts in upcoming years. So by tossing out “big bucks” now, they’re hoping they can commit him to less than the “bigger bucks” they’d have to pay in the future.

Of course, Jimenez could wind up injuring himself, or finding some other glitch in his game that keeps him from becoming all he can be. In fact, the more cynical of White Sox fandom are convinced that’s exactly what will happen.

Strategy worked for Indians

BUT THE WHITE Sox are banking that this contract will be similar to many of the significant contracts the Cleveland Indians gave to their youthful talents of the 1990s – thereby enabling them to hold their team together for several years during that decade when they dominated the American League Central division with division titles won five straight seasons.

However, by the time 2001 came around, the contracts turned out to be less-than-market value. All those stars wound up ditching Cleveland for other ball clubs – including eventually Jim Thome doing a stint with the White Sox themselves.

So it will be intriguing to see just what becomes of the youthful talent of the White Sox. Are we bound to see baseball bargains the next few seasons that will make Sox fandom happy? Particularly since Jimenez was the one-time Chicago Cubs minor leaguer whom the Sox will be able to claim a steal!

Or is there going to be continued griping, with fans finding the most exciting aspect of going to the ballpark being the new popcorn laced with bacon to be served at concession stands this season?

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EXTRA: Could Kaepernick have borne down for Chicago Bears in ’17?

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Chicago Bears’ quarterback situation shakes down this season – although after the first preseason game, the delusional parts of Bears fans want to believe that rookie Mitchell Trubisky could just wind up being the team’s salvation.
 

Could he have helped the 'pride and joy of Illinois?'

Although anything would be an improvement following the several seasons of sub-par play from Jay Cutler.

THE POINT IS that the Bears went into this season desperately searching for a quarterback, and they wound up offering some big bucks to free agent Mike Glennon, who is competing with Trubisky for the spot – although none other than Hall of Fame coach Mike Ditka is touting Trubisky for the job these days.

One thing the Bears definitely did NOT do was give any consideration to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who as of now still has no ties to a professional football team.

He was released, and nobody in the National Football League wants anything to do with him.

Kaepernick, of course, is the guy who made a point of refusing to stand at attention with other players during the playing of the National Anthem prior to each game. He didn’t do anything to disrupt the anthem’s being played. He just refused to make the token gesture of support that many ballplayers do as part of the pre-game ritual, in part as a statement on the current state of racial relations in this country.

One of these guys had better work out ...

SAN FRANCISCO GOT tired of the constant coverage of Kaepernick and let him go. The perception out there now is that he’s being ignored despite his athletic talents by football clubs more interested in making conservative political statements of their own.

Now I’m not necessarily arguing that Kaepernick would have been a better Bears option that Glennon, Trubisky or anybody else they could have gotten this year. But they had better hope one of these guys plays well enough that the Bears don’t become the poster child for a sports team more interested in maintaining a certain societal image rather than winning games.

... if the Bears to avoid looking foolish in 2017

The Bears will look foolish if by mid-season they still have significant flaws at quarterback, and the people who are now deriding professional football in general for Kaepernick’s continued unemployment start deciding that “da Bears” in particular were the team that could have benefitted from his presence.

Insofar as Kaepernick’s status is concerned, it wouldn’t shock me if football teams are skittish enough to not want Colin around – with probably a team or two owned by some ideological nitwit who would ignore talent.

IF ANYTHING, IT shows that the situation in athletics hasn’t changed much since the late 1960s when then-pitcher Jim Bouton wrote his baseball season diary, “Ball Four.”

Some things never change, nearly half a century later

In it, he wrote sarcastically that ballplayers were free to say whatever they wanted on high-minded social issues, provided the things they said were of a conservative leaning, because that would mean they were “right” about the issue.

Saying something more liberal would mean they were “wrong” and should pipe down.

Although the Major League Baseball of that era and sports of today still bear evidence that Bouton was correct when he wrote of the typical ballplayer’s view of his colleague – “He’s a great guy. Wouldn’t say shit if he had a mouthful.”

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