I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad

I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad is a collection of essays, short stories and articles about baseball, combined with comments and articles written by Ball Four author and former major league pitcher Jim Bouton.

The book is unusual in that Bouton fully acknowledges that he did not write much of it, nor did he do the research.

In creating the book, Bouton and Offen agreed that they would select stories that met their personal tastes, not just vapid pieces glorifying their subjects (Bouton even apologizes to the late New York Yankees manager Miller Huggins because they found no interesting stories written about him, so he was not included in the book).

Bouton also added his opinions on the collapse of the "Yankee Dynasty" in 1965, and the roles that the three managers of that era (Ralph Houk, Yogi Berra and Johnny Keane) played in that fall from glory.

They also chose one fictional manager—Squawks Magrew, created by James Thurber in his short story, "You Could Look It Up".