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Ball Four poster

Ball Four

Overview

Ball Four is a 1976 American situation comedy that aired on CBS in 1976. The series is inspired by the 1970 book of the same name by Jim Bouton. Bouton co-created the show with humorist and television critic Marvin Kitman and sportswriter Vic Ziegel. Bouton also starred in the series. Ball Four followed the Washington Americans, a fictitious minor league baseball team, dealing with the fallout from a series of Sports Illustrated articles written by Americans player Jim Barton. Like the book, the series covered controversial subjects including womanizing players, drug use, homosexuality in sports and religion. The series included a gay rookie ballplayer, one of the earliest regular gay characters on television. The trio began developing the series in 1975, looking to other series like M*A*S*H and All in the Family as models. CBS expressed interest and the creative team developed a script. CBS shot the pilot episode and ultimately bought the series. Ball Four aired at 8:30 PM Eastern time, which was during the Family Viewing Hour, an FCC-mandated hour of early evening "family-friendly" broadcasting. Consequently the writers had some trouble with the network's Standards and Practices in their attempt to portray realistic locker room scenes, especially the language used by the players. Pseudo-profanity such as "bullpimp" was disallowed, while "horse-crock" and "bullhorse" were approved.
55%

Cast

Bill McCutcheon profile
Bill McCutcheon

Total episodes: 7

Ben Davidson profile
Ben Davidson

Total episodes: 7

Jim Bouton profile
Jim Bouton

Total episodes: 7

Marco St. John profile
Marco St. John

Total episodes: 7

Jamie Tirelli profile
Jamie Tirelli

Total episodes: 7

David Carroll profile
David Carroll

Total episodes: 7

Jack Somack profile
Jack Somack

Total episodes: 7

Samuel E. Wright profile
Samuel E. Wright

Total episodes: 7

Bill McCutcheon profile
Bill McCutcheon

Total episodes: 7

Ben Davidson profile
Ben Davidson

Total episodes: 7

Jim Bouton profile
Jim Bouton

Total episodes: 7

Marco St. John profile
Marco St. John

Total episodes: 7

Jamie Tirelli profile
Jamie Tirelli

Total episodes: 7

David Carroll profile
David Carroll

Total episodes: 7

Jack Somack profile
Jack Somack

Total episodes: 7

Samuel E. Wright profile
Samuel E. Wright

Total episodes: 7

Extra

Release Date

September 22, 1976

Last air Date

October 27, 1976

Status

Ended

Original Language

English

Networks

CBS logo

Available On

Currently it's not available for streaming.
You can visit JustWatch for more information.

seasons

Season 1 poster
Season 1

Aired on: 1976 | 7 Episodes

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