I was pleased to hear yesterday that Bill Lee, one of the Red Sox most colorful players of all-time and a semi-regular at Professor Thom's who I've had the pleasure of meeting and talking baseball with, was selected to the Red Sox Hall of Fame. The Spaceman joins pitcher Wes Ferrell, Mike Greenwell (another favorite of mine; glad he's in, too), infielder Everett Scott, pitcher Frank Sullivan, Mo Vaughn, scout George Digby and team executive Edward Kenney Jr. as the 2008 inductees.
The Hall of Fame induction dinner will take place on Friday, Nov. 7 at Boston's Marriott Copley Hotel.
He'll never make it to Baseball's Hall of Fame, but my congratulations to Bill on this honor by his former club. For a long time there was a strained relationship between the Spaceman and the Red Sox, but the ownership of the team led by John Henry reached out to him, and brought him back into the fold. (I'll never forget at the birthday party we had for Bill at Thom's in 2006, he referred to the Red Sox as "we.")
That should be quite an interesting night this November when Bill is inducted. I wonder if he'll mention "gerbils" or "brownshirts" in his acceptance speech...
Thanks for the great blog, I found the Machine just before the baseball playoffs, fell in love with the magic number countdown and have become a regular (I'm an upstate NY Sox fan, so I have some similar issues!)
ReplyDeleteAs for the Spaceman, only Yaz has more of a pull on my affections. Remember the great Warren Zevon song dedicated to Bill:
"You're supposed to sit on your ass
and nod at stupid things
man that's hard to do.
But if you don't they'll screw you
and if you do they'll screw you too.
When I'm standing in the middle of the diamond all alone
I always play to win
When it comes to skin and bone
And sometimes I say things I shouldn't
Like....
And sometimes I say things I shouldn't
Like...."
Thanks so much for the very kind words, Phil. I appreciate you coming here as often as you do.
ReplyDeleteBill Lee is some piece of work, and great to hang with and just talk with. He's a really smart guy whose been around the block a few times. He's a really wise man as well.
And it's really cool that the late Warren Zevon dedicated a song to him. The words fit him perfectly.
God, I get so jealous sometimes of you guys who live in the big cities and get to say things like "I met Bill, and got to hang out and talk baseball with him".
ReplyDeleteCrap - what a high that must have been. I've always liked Spaceman and even more so lately since Jere at the "Red Sox Fan From Pinstripe Territory" blog did a piece about meeting him at a charity dinner, complete with some nice audio/video, which in turn led me to some great interview videos that I'd never seen before. He's a real person, for sure.
Glad to see Greenwell in also.
Off topic - about the Trivia Update.
Read thru the questions Wednesday as I usually do. Didn't do so hot this week, how did the teams do? Was it especially tough, or was I just rushing thru?
In the "I'm Sure You Don't Have Anything Better To Do With Your Time" department - perhaps when you post the questions on-line you could note how many teams answered that question correctly. You know, so those of us out in the boonies, who have to play vicariously thru the web, can see how we compare to the folks in civilization.
I did love the reference to Ron Popiel! I hope EVERYONE knew that he was the "Pocket Fisherman" guy, not the Hair Club guy. Oh wait... not everyone's as old as me, are they?
Actually, most people knew that Ron Popeil wasn't the Hair Club For Men guy! Thanks for the kind feedback, Sosock. It's cool that people like you follow the Trivia quiz every week. Back in 2006 I had many requests to put it on my site after the quiz was played, and many people come on to my site for Trivia, so it made sense to do it.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I just keep a running total for each team's score per round, and I don't make any notes about how each team did on any particular question. (It's a lot of work just keeping the main scores straight, believe me!) Most of the scores were very good, but every week we have teams that don't do so well. But everyone seems to have a good time, and that's what's important.
I've met a few ex-Red Sox players, and they've all been cool to meet. But Bill Lee is in a category all by himself.