Rest In Peace, Jim. I read Ball Four from beginning to end many, many times.
I had the great pleasure of talking with Gary Bell from that Seattle Pilots team some years ago. Gary told me not to believe everything I read in that book, but he did confirm one of my favorite stories from the book to be true. From the book:
The meeting before the game was marvelous. When we went over the hitters, Gary Bell had the same comment on each one: "Smoke him inside" (fastball inside). Frank Howard, McMullen, Brinkman, Epstein - every hitter. "Smoke him inside," said Gary Bell.
It got to be funny as hell after a while, because not only did he get no opposition, but he was taken seriously. According to the gospel of Gary Bell you pitch to the entire Washington team by smoking them inside.
...
When the meeting was over Aker asked Gary Bell what he thought about it all and he said, "Smoke him inside." Gary Bell is a beautiful man.