Bill "Spaceman" Lee

A repoter once asked Bill Lee if he preferred astroturf to grass. Lee replied, "I don't know, I've never smoked astroturf".

Anyway, he has a new book out, "Have Glove Will Travel."

And if you are lucky to live in the WGBH broadcast area, he will be on GREATER BOSTON Wednesday, March 2.

And read his book "The Wrong Stuff"...

Lots of great quotes and stories...

Is he still living in Vermont on the farm? This Monday on Teri Gross' Fresh Air 12 Noon EST he will be interviewed. I usually don't like her show but i'm tunin' in the space man. Got his stats on his last year with Expos? Had a pretty decent year and noone would resign him. Blackballed for being outspoken. Saw him on Letterman years back, witty.

Year Ag Tm Lg W L G GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP ERA *lgERA *ERA+
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+
1969 22 BOS AL 1 3 20 1 0 0 3 0 52.0 56 27 26 9 28 45 2 3 232 4.50 3.81 85
1970 23 BOS AL 2 2 11 5 0 0 2 1 37.0 48 20 19 3 14 19 0 2 167 4.62 3.98 86
1971 24 BOS AL 9 2 47 3 0 0 13 2 102.0 102 35 31 7 46 74 1 1 451 2.74 3.71 136
1972 25 BOS AL 7 4 47 0 0 0 16 5 84.3 75 31 30 5 32 43 1 4 346 3.20 3.22 101
1973 26 BOS AL 17 11 38 33 18 1 1 1 284.7 275 100 87 20 76 120 5 3 1173 2.75 4.01 146
1974 27 BOS AL 17 15 38 37 16 1 0 0 282.3 320 123 110 25 67 95 4 3 1190 3.51 3.84 110
1975 28 BOS AL 17 9 41 34 17 4 0 0 260.0 274 123 114 20 69 78 3 2 1093 3.95 4.09 104
1976 29 BOS AL 5 7 24 14 1 0 7 3 96.0 124 68 60 13 28 29 3 2 440 5.62 3.91 70
1977 30 BOS AL 9 5 27 16 4 0 4 1 128.0 155 67 63 14 29 31 0 1 543 4.43 4.52 102
1978 31 BOS AL 10 10 28 24 8 1 3 0 177.0 198 89 68 20 59 44 2 0 768 3.46 4.12 119
1979 32 MON NL 16 10 33 33 6 3 0 0 222.0 230 91 75 20 46 59 1 0 925 3.04 3.67 121
1980 33 MON NL 4 6 24 18 2 0 4 0 118.0 156 71 65 13 22 34 3 1 522 4.96 3.57 72
1981 34 MON NL 5 6 31 7 0 0 16 6 88.7 90 33 29 6 14 34 2 2 365 2.94 3.49 119
1982 35 MON NL 0 0 7 0 0 0 1 0 12.3 19 7 6 1 1 8 0 0 56 4.38 3.64 83
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+
14 Yr WL% .569 119 90 416 225 72 10 70 19 1944.3 2122 885 783 176 531 713 27 24 8271 3.62 3.89 107
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+
162 Game Avg 12 9 44 23 7 1 7 2 206.0 225 93 83 18 56 75 2 2 877 3.62 3.89 107

He wouldn't shave until he got put in the starting rotation, and the papers printed this great photo of him with a monarch butterfly hanging off several inches of beard. Glad to hear he's still around.

The Little Red (Sox) Book? Very funny stuff.

The audio should be on the website by tomorrow: www.whyy.org

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4516268

Listening to it now. This was my favorite pitcher, nay, favorite player of that era. He was truely "out there". But, boy, did he hate the Yankees....he really got up for those series. Ultimately, it was about the fun for him.

Anyone remember his Euphus pitch?

"I tested them all in the 80s....I don't think all if them should be mandatory."