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The spaceman's global view
-3/31/89

Book review: 'The Wrong Stuff' by Bill Lee with Dick Lally
-6/10/84

Lee on hot seat again?
-6/4/80

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The spaceman's global view

In his own way, former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee might be the ultimate lefthander.

When one recalls the Spaceman, it isn't his statistics that come to mind. What the southpaw is most remembered for is his unique way of looking at things.

"Management has no respect for lefthanders like me," said the 42-year-old Lee earlier this spring. "I mean, all the Red Sox have got to do is give me a call and give me the ball. I guarantee you I can go in there right now and pitch five innings. I'd give them $100,000 if I didn't do the job, and they'd have to give me $1 million if I did.

"Of course, I haven't picked up a ball in four Sundays. But I'd make that bet right now. You'd just have to give me four Advils and I'd be ready to go."

If they'd let him, Lee would indeed go to the mound and show them how a lefty should throw. In the '80s, lefthanders make big bucks as power pitchers, with much emphasis on sinkers and sliders. Lee believes he could still dazzle hitters with his slow curve or changeup. When they get confused, he could
throw another one even slower than the first.

Lee had a 14-year major league career. He spent 10 seasons with the Red Sox and four with the Expos, posting a 119-90 record.

Until Johnny Carson came along, Lee was the most famous person to come out of beautiful downtown Burbank, Calif. He was a natural lefthander, which is to say he mostly uses the right hand for cool beers. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Being a lefty "forces you to be tougher," he said, "because it's a righthanded world."

Lee will tell you the world of lefties is shrinking, and he will tell you why. Too many young pitchers fail to recognize a God-given talent until it is too late.

Lee, who began pitching at age 9, said, "I didn't have raw talent. If you love a game and you're not good at it, then you have to be smart at it. And that's what I was.

"People don't like lefthanders," he added. "Lefthanders are hard to coach because they think with the right hemisphere of their brain. Lefthanders are the only people in their right mind."

That may be going a bit far in Lee's case. But he was a decent pitcher, even if the most vivid memory most people have of him is the blooper he threw to Tony Perez in the 1975 World Series that the Cincinnati slugger deposited into the left-field screen at Fenway Park.

Yet even that pitch was thrown with confidence, bordering on arrogance. Lee had a lefthander's outlook then, and still does.

"Baseball is a game of triangles," he said. "The diamond is two triangles. Everything is in angles. The plate is in angles, and how you command the plate and how you slice it in different directions is why a lefthander can pitch. Dazzling? I thought I was. But I didn't impress too many people because I didn't throw very hard. I learned physics. That's why I became a good pitcher."

Lee is upset that the changeup and slow curve are fading from the game. Both were pitches he threw without fear, whether at Fenway or Yankee Stadium.

"I was taught and coached right in college," said Lee. "At USC, you have no fear. I think you lose confidence if you don't learn it early in life. I think kids are drafted and coached to throw hard. They're impressed. They win with natural ability.

"But then humanity sets in and they go through a humiliating experience when they get up in a certain level and get their ears pinned back, and they don't know how to throw a changeup. I knew how to throw a changeup when I was 9 years old. I knew how to throw a slow curve when I was 9. Most kids today don't learn that."

Many of today's kids don't know much about Lee. He is a genuine American item, even if he he does live in Canada. "What am I doing?," said Lee. ''Making maple syrup, saving the planet, running for president . . . forever. I'll run for president until I'm elected.

"I still play basketball every day. I have a 27-point average in the St. John's Rec League. Remember Charlie Smith of Georgetown when he was hitting those three-pointers against Notre Dame? That was me a week ago. I had radar. I never hit iron. Nothing but net."

To be a lefthander, according to Lee, is to have a viewpoint slightly to the left of reality.

"I hope when they bury me," said Lee, "that they say, 'He didn't have an elitist bone in his body.' I own nothing to this day. My ex-wife owns a lot. And my present wife owns a lot. But I don't own a lot, and I'm very happy
because of it. I have no fear of losing anything because I don't own anything. I don't lock doors . . . nothing."

Why does he think he will last forever?

"Because John Milner once said I'm the only white man allowed in the back of the bus."