The movie “Spaceman” comes out Friday and follows former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee after the end of his MLB career.
On August 19, the Bill Lee story will be told on the big screen in movie theaters across the country. Bill “Spaceman” After clashing with the baseball establishment throughout the 1970s as a Boston Red Sox pitcher, Lee’s career came to an end too soon in the early 1980s. This movie follows Lee during those post-baseball years as he continues to play the game he loves over the next 30 years in many interesting and unusual places. Lee is one of the most interesting players in MLB history and his post-career escapades provided great material for actor Josh Duhamel to work with.
Lee is best known by baseball fans for those years with the Red Sox in the mid-1970s. He was at his peak from 1973 to 1975, when he went 51-35 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.31 WHIP across three seasons. He pitched an average of 276 innings in those three years, and completed 51 of his 104 starts.
The 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds is an all-time classic among October showdowns and Lee was a big part of it. After the Red Sox won the first game of the series, Lee started Game Two and took a 2-1 lead into the ninth. He allowed a leadoff double to Johnny Bench and was taken out. Reliever Dick Drago then blew the save opportunity by allowing Bench to score on a single by Dave Concepcion. After a steal of second, Concepcion scored on a Ken Griffey double. The Reds won the game and the series was tied.
After the epic Game Six in which Carlton Fisk waved fair one of the most famous home runs in baseball history, Bill Lee took the hill for Game Seven. The Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918. Lee held the Reds scoreless through five innings and the Red Sox took a 3-0 lead. In the top of the sixth, Lee tried to slip his signature high-arcing eephus pitch past Tony Perez and paid for it as Perez launched a 2-run bomb out of Fenway to make it 3-2. Lee stayed in the game until he allowed a one-out walk in the top of the seventh. The Red Sox bullpen once again could not hold the lead and the Reds won the game and the series. Some longtime Red Sox fans still blame Lee’s eephus pitch for being the turning point in that game.
During the filming of “Spaceman”, Lee showed up on the set and taught actor Josh Duhamel how to throw the infamous pitch. Duhamel told NESN.com’s Michaela Vernava, “Bill actually taught me how to throw an eephus, believe it or not. He came to the set the last day we were shooting. And literally, you know, it’s about getting it high and getting this topspin on it. And after a few tries, I started getting it. And then we did some BP, and I just love the guy. I love what he stood for.”
Duhamel talked about Lee’s charismatic personality, his incredible smarts, and how he owns every room he enters. The movie is expected to portray the complexity of Bill Lee, both the good and the bad. As Duhamel said about Lee, “he’d be the first one to admit that he made a lot of mistakes.”
Next: Lee's Rebellious Spirit