Bill Lee

Bill "The Spaceman" Lee, the left handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos, was one of the most colorful players in major league baseball history. With the Red Sox from 1969 through 1978, and with the Montreal Expos from 1979 until he retired in 1982, Lee won 16 or more games four times, including three straight 17 win seasons from 1973 to 1975. He was part of the Red Sox team that played what many believe is the best World Series ever, against the Cincinnatti Reds in 1975. His productivity declined after being injured in a fight at Yankee Stadium in 1976. He won only five games in a short-ended 1976 season, followed by win totals of 9 and 10 games in 1977 and 1978, when the Red Sox came in second against the Yankees, their hated rivals, twice. By '78, his last year with the Red Sox, he was so out of favor with manager Don Zimmer that Zimmer refused to use him as a starter a good deal of the time, giving him but 24 starts that season, when he had averaged 24 starts a y