Bill Lee (left-handed pitcher)

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Bill Lee
Bill Lee
Pitcher
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
June 25, 1969 for the Boston Red Sox
Final game
May 7, 1982 for the Montreal Expos
Career statistics
Wins     119
E.R.A.     3.62
Strike Outs     713
Teams

Boston Red Sox (1969 - 1979)
Montreal Expos (1980 - 1982)
Career highlights and awards

William Francis Lee III (born December 28, 1946), (nicknamed "Spaceman"), is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Boston Red Sox from 1969-1978 and the Montreal Expos from 1979-1982. Lee is known for his use of the eephus pitch and his countercultural behavior.[1]

Lee has written three books: The Wrong Stuff, Have Glove, Will Travel, and The Little Red (Sox) Book: A Revisionist Red Sox History. He was the subject of the 2006 documentary film Spaceman in Cuba.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Although Lee was born in Burbank, California, he was raised in Canoga Park and later in San Rafael.[citation needed]. He was born into a family with a number of former professional baseball players. His grandfather William Lee was an infielder for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League and his aunt Annabelle Lee was a pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. He graduated from Terra Linda High School in 1964.

Lee attended the University of Southern California from 1964-1968 where he played for Rod Dedeaux. Lee was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 22nd round of the 1968 Major League amateur draft.

[edit] Major league career

Rather than rely on the use of a fastball, Lee developed as a finesse pitcher. He threw a variety of off-speed pitches, including a variation of the Eephus pitch. The Leephus pitch or Space Ball, the names for Lee's take on the eephus pitch, follows a high arcing trajectory and is very slow.

Lee was used almost exclusively as a relief pitcher during the first four years of his career. During that period, Lee appeared in 125 games, started just nine of them, and compiled a 19-11 record.

In 1973, Lee was used primarily as a starting pitcher. He started 33 of the 38 games in which he appeared and went 17-11 with a 2.95 Earned Run Average. He was rewarded for his strong performance with a nomination to the American League All-Star team. He followed 1973 with two more 17-win seasons.

Lee started two games in the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. His first start came in Game Two of the series. Lee let up just one run in eight innings; however, the Reds scored two runs off of Dick Drago in the top of the ninth inning and subsequently won the game 3-2.

In Game Seven, Lee shut out the Reds for five innings and the Red Sox took a 3-0 lead. In the sixth inning, the Reds' Tony Perez hit a Lee Ephus pitch over the Green Monster, the left field wall at Fenway Park, for a two-run home run. Shortly thereafter, Lee left with a blister.[2] The Red Sox lost the game by a score of 4-3, and eventually the Series, four games to three.

Lee separated his left shoulder during a brawl that occurred between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees on May 20, 1976, after Yankee Lou Piniella ran over Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk in a play at home plate. Lee initially blamed the injury on Yankee third baseman Graig Nettles. However, after he had a chance to see the fight on video tape, Lee apologized to Nettles. Subsequently, he blamed Yankee manager Billy Martin for encouraging the Yankees players to be confrontational.[2]

During the course of the 1978 season, Lee and Red Sox manager Don Zimmer engaged in an ongoing public feud over the handling of the pitching staff. Lee's countercultural beliefs (detailed below) and free spirit also clashed with Zimmer's old-school, conservative personality. Lee and a few other of the more free-spirited Red Sox formed what they called "The Buffalo Heads" as a response to what they considered Zimmer's overbearing nature. Zimmer retaliated during the season by relegating Lee to the bullpen, and convinced management to trade away some of the other "Buffalo Heads", such as Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins and Bernie Carbo. And though, as a starting pitcher, Lee had owned a 12-5 lifetime career record against the New York Yankees, Zimmer refused to start him against the Yankees during a crucial late-season series. The Red Sox lost the division to the Yankees by one game.

Lee was traded at the end of the year to the Montreal Expos for Stan Papi, a utility infielder. He pitched well for the Expos in 1979, winning 16 games -- while his former team, the Red Sox, slumped, mostly for lack of starting pitching. Lee's career ended in 1982, when he was released by the Expos after staging a one-game walkout as a protest over Montreal's decision to release second baseman and friend Rodney Scott.

[edit] Reputation and Controversy

Lee's popularity was because of his personality, which gave him the nickname Spaceman. The USC graduate was an intelligent, articulate, humorous voice, and his outspoken manner meant his views were frequently recorded in the press. He spoke in defense of Maoist China (once visiting, only to lampoon it endlessly), population control, Greenpeace, school busing in Boston and anything else that happened to cross his mind. He berated an umpire for a controversial call in the 1975 World Series, threatening to bite off his ear and encouraging the American people to write letters demanding the game be replayed. He ate health food and practiced yoga. He claimed his marijuana use made him impervious to bus fumes while jogging to work at Fenway Park. He sang Warren Zevon songs at times, and in an act of mutual admiration, Zevon recorded a song entitled "Bill Lee" on his album Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. In a college town like Boston, his views were shared by many youths, and they quickly became Lee's biggest fans.

Despite his views on off-the-field matters, Lee was respected by fellow players, who believed his cajoling of the press took pressure off the team, and his attitude on the field was pure business. He was intensely competitive, and worked quickly, which always endears a pitcher to his team mates.

But Lee would often speak out on matters concerning the team and was not afraid to criticize management, causing him to be dropped from both the Red Sox and Expos.

Lee countered his offbeat politics with a strong sense of the game. He is an avowed purist and traditionalist, speaking out against the designated hitter, AstroTurf and polyester uniforms, while conversely extolling the virtues of day games and Sunday doubleheaders.

[edit] Post-professional career

After being unable to sign on with another major league team after his release by the Expos (he alleges he was blackballed and his failed attempt to get a job with the San Diego Padres where his friend and former manager Dick Williams was managing seems to support this), Lee continued to play for a number of semi-pro and exhibition teams, including playing for and managing in the short-lived Senior League in Florida, largely comprised of retired major leaguers. In 1988, he ran for President on the absurdist Rhinoceros Party ticket, but failed to appear on the ballot in any state. His slogan for the election was "No guns. No butter. Both can kill."

He lives in Vermont, tending to a farm and still playing baseball regularly for semi-professional teams and touring New England with the "Grey Sox", a semi-pro nine made up for former Red Sox players. He still has a cult following in New England, and is one of the most popular Red Sox players of all time.

Currently, he appears every Monday on the Loren and Wally morning show at WROR from roughly 7:45am to 7:55am (EST) and with Mitch Melnick on the Team 990 in Montreal every afternoon during baseball season.

[edit] Books

He is the author, with Richard Lally, of two books, and with Jim Prime, of a third:

  • Lee, Bill and Dick Lally (1984). The wrong stuff, New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0670767247
  • Lee, Bill and Jim Prime (2003). The Little Red (Sox) Book: A Revisionist Red Sox History, Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1572435275
  • Lee, Bill and Richard Lally (2005). Have glove, will travel: adventures of a baseball vagabond, New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 1400054079

[edit] Spaceman goes to Cuba

In 2003, filmmakers Brett Rapkin and Josh Dixon joined The Spaceman on a barnstorming trip to Cuba, gathering footage for the documentary film "Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey." After having its World Premiere at the 2006 SILVERDOCS AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, the film achieved high ratings on The New England Sports Network and was picked up for home video distribution across North American by Hart Sharp Video.

In 2005, he had a cameo appearance in the film Wait Till This Year, documenting the 2004 Sox season.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Bill Lee Shrine of Eternals. www.baseballreliquary.org. Retrieved on November 11, 2006.
  2. ^ a b Bill Lee Biography. www.baseballlibrary.com/. Retrieved on November 11, 2006.

[edit] External links

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