The book Ball Four isn’t about affiliate marketing, but it is about marching to a different drummer and challenging yourself.
So, in that respect, it is something of a mirror for affiliate marketers.
If you’re not familiar with Ball Four by Jim Bouton, it’s a book about baseball on the surface. However, it’s way more than that – it’s about trying, failing, and trying again.
That theme of persistence is made us want to book Bouton to keynote Affiliate Summit East back in 2006.
In short, Ball Four is my favorite book on sports, life and motivation.
I’ve read it a number of times, and I was excited when it came out on Audible.
But it was way more than I could have expected. Author Jim Bouton does the read for Ball Four on Audible, and I’ve never had such a riveting experience with an audio book.
It’s like he’s sitting in your living room telling you stories. A totally different dimension from reading it.
At points, he’s laughing at his own words. Other times, you can tell he’s struggling to hold it all together. He sings, he does impressions (great one for Mickey Mantle), and just generally tells a really moving story.
I strung it out across about a month of dog walks, because I didn’t want it to end.
Seriously, even if you’re not a baseball fan, you’ll really dig this book. And if you’re a baseball fan, you should have already read it.
Now I’m off to go pound some Budweiser.