65-year-old Bill Lee wins game
August 24, 2012 8:27 AM   Subscribe

Bill "Spaceman" Lee wins a professional baseball game at 65. The former Red Sox pitcher and co-author of "The Wrong Stuff" went all nine innings for the San Rafael Pacifics of the North American League, beating the Maui Na Koa Ikaika by a score of 9-4. He also batted for himself and singled in a run. Take that, Roger Clemens!
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek (20 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Yay! At last some good news for us lifelong Red Sox fans. Bill Lee was such a fantastic character in his time with Boston, as well as a talented player, and I've been following his adventures since then with interest.
posted by Sidhedevil at 8:29 AM on August 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


When Lee reached into his uniform, seemingly in search of a foreign substance, someone yelled, "Dig deep, Bill!"

Huh?
posted by nathancaswell at 8:30 AM on August 24, 2012


Last time round.
posted by zamboni at 8:31 AM on August 24, 2012


Previously in old men winning baseball games.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:35 AM on August 24, 2012


Yes, but did he do it with a raging erection?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:38 AM on August 24, 2012


I'd love this man SO MUCH even if he wasn't an Expo!
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:43 AM on August 24, 2012


This thread needs the Warren Zevon song too.
posted by neroli at 8:48 AM on August 24, 2012 [3 favorites]


In related news, "Knuckleball Princess" Eri Yoshida of the Maui Na Koa Ikaika beat the Pacifics earlier this week in a battle of the knuckleballers.
posted by MegoSteve at 8:48 AM on August 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


This is one of my favorite wikipedia baseball articles.
posted by bukvich at 8:52 AM on August 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


In other knuckleball news, someone made the knuckleball documentary I've wanted to make for the last couple of years and it looks pretty entertaining. Good year to make it.
posted by nathancaswell at 8:54 AM on August 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


the Red Sox were up 3–0 when Lee threw three eephus pitches to Tony Pérez with a runner on base.

Must've been a really slow runner to not have bases getting stolen left and right.
posted by nathancaswell at 8:57 AM on August 24, 2012


To be fair, if someone stole bases left and right they'd be right back where they started from.
posted by plastic_animals at 9:03 AM on August 24, 2012 [6 favorites]


Good.
posted by zvs at 9:21 AM on August 24, 2012


the Red Sox were up 3–0 when Lee threw three eephus pitches to Tony Pérez with a runner on base.

When I was a kid I would study the box scores in the newspaper every day. I was familiar with the eephus pitch, but I and my friends would always just refer to it as a lob. Meanwhile, the box scores would list how many players were left on base. The abbreviation for "left on base" in box scores was "LOB." So a Padres-Mets game mights say "LOB 4" under the Padres' statistics and "LOB 8" under the Mets' statistics.

For years, I took this to mean that the Padres threw four lobs and the Mets threw eight lobs during the game. Adolescence was a confusing time.
posted by flarbuse at 9:27 AM on August 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


That's awesome, flarbuse. It took me a long time to figure out "icing" in hockey was not called for the act of stopping quickly and throwing up a bunch of ice at the end of the rink.
posted by yerfatma at 9:43 AM on August 24, 2012


When I was a teenager, Bill Lee lived about a block away in our close-in Boston suburb. He always treated the neighborhood kids really well, handing out Red Sox tchotchkes and autographs to the faithful. As I recall, he washed his car and puttered in his yard a lot.
posted by carmicha at 11:21 AM on August 24, 2012


Lordy, the current Sox could sure as hell use him on the mound. I don't think he and Bobby V. would get along, though...or he and John Henry, for that matter.
posted by pentagoet at 12:28 PM on August 24, 2012


He was an Expo, too, folks. I am so pissed off that I moved to Toronto just a few years before he showed up in town. "If you're gonna get deported, it might as well be to the Paris of North America".
posted by maudlin at 8:39 PM on August 24, 2012


I wouldn't be surprised if a 65 year old Clemens could win a major league game on a good day (with non runs of support, anyway). Cool story but if Clemens is the Beatles, Lee is Lou Vega. Clemens is a cheater and a shit head but I appreciate his singular talent.

(of course Maddux was as good as Clemens without roids OR his natural gifts)
posted by mellow seas at 8:56 PM on August 24, 2012


*nine runs, dammit. That's what I get for adhering to AP style conventions on a phone.
posted by mellow seas at 8:57 PM on August 24, 2012


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