Ball Four(1976)

Ball Four is a 1976 sitcom that aired on CBS, based on Jim Bouton's 1970 memoir of the same name. Bouton co-created the series with humorist Marvin Kitman and sportswriter Vic Ziegel, and starred as a player on the Washington Americans, a fictional minor league baseball team. The show follows the fallout after one player writes exposé articles for Sports Illustrated, tackling controversial subjects including womanizing, drug use, homosexuality in sports, and religion. Ball Four featured one of television's earliest regular gay characters. Airing during the FCC's Family Viewing Hour, the series clashed with network censors over authentic locker room language—pseudo-profanities like "bullpimp" were rejected while "horse-crock" and "bullhorse" made the cut. The creative team drew inspiration from M*A*S*H and All in the Family while developing scripts that pushed boundaries for prime-time television.