Spaceman still in orbit

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This article was published 25/07/2016 (2831 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ALTONA — It’s an odd sight seeing Bill Lee sitting in the bleachers at a baseball diamond in this small southern Manitoba town, shouting instructions to a young Altona Braves pitcher.

It’s a long way from the big crowds of Major League Baseball. But this is the Spaceman we’re talking about — he’s always in orbit.

A former pitcher with the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos, Lee is in Altona this week with a group of Cuban players for the Canada Cuba Goodwill Tour, a trip for players from one country to experience life and baseball in another.

Lee’s Cuban proteges have been in town since last Wednesday, here for a week to learn, play and travel with the Spaceman — a nickname given to Lee during his playing days for his unfiltered thoughts and similar lifestyle.

“If I didn’t have my foundation in Canada, I wouldn’t be here,” said Lee of the tours. “My home base is Montreal. My dentist is Canadian. My dermatologist is Canadian. My orthopedic surgeon is Canadian.”

Lee’s wife, Canadian Diana Donovan, travels with the 69-year-old, often doing the “heavy lifting,” they both admit, while Lee “just plays baseball.” In total, they spend up to 200 days on the road doing various charity events for an array of organizations. Since 1999, Lee has been a baseball ambassador to Cuba.

“They started with these friendship tours in Nova Scotia, then New Brunswick, then Manitoba and then into Western Canada,” said Lee. “I eventually became a spokesperson for the tours. It’s great ball. The Cuban team beat a team from Winnipeg (Sunday). It had drama and everything. It was 6-5 over seven innings.”

Lee still keeps tabs on the game he excelled at in the 1970s and ’80s. His big-league career ended in 1982 after he failed to show up for a game in protest of the Expos’ release of a good friend, infielder Rodney Scott. Lee was released immediately, and the few years following his exit from MLB will be showcased in a film titled Spaceman, due for release in mid-August, with Lee being played by actor Josh Duhamel.

“It’s about me and losing my job for standing up for what’s right,” said Lee. “Part of it is animated. MLB doesn’t want this movie to be released.”

“It’s an independent movie. Duhamel worked for less than $100 a day,” said Donovan.

Lee believes the game of baseball is too TV-friendly now, and less friendly to youngsters who can’t stay up late to watch. He asserts pitchers are too specialized these days. In some ways, he said, pitching has been ruined.

“The complete game is a lost statistic. We used to run back out there on three days rest. Who does that now?” he said.

He loves the latest fiasco involving Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale, who was suspended after refusing to wear a throwback uniform, ultimately cutting them up in protest.

“That was me,” said Lee proudly. “I wore my uniform backwards with a gas mask during batting practice to protest pollution in Chicago, but I didn’t get suspended. It’s all about merchandising these days. It was about selling throwback uniforms. They’re (supposed to be) trying to win the pennant.”

Lee and Donovan live in Craftsbury, Vt., a state where he will run for governor later this year with the Liberty Union Party, of which former Democratic nominee Bernie Sanders is a member. In 1988, Lee ran for president of the United States as a member of the Rhinoceros Party.

“They’ve only gotten one to three per cent of the vote in the past,” said Donovan of Lee’s chances.

Lee said if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins the presidential election and he is made governor, he’ll try to open the border between Quebec and Vermont to create the second coming of the Underground Railroad.

“We’re going to smuggle ourselves up to Canada,” he said. “Harriet Tubman is going to lead the way.

Added Lee: “They think I am the answer, and they’re right. I went home and read Plato’s Republic again. In a chapter, Art of Governing, Socrates says if someone wants you to run for government and you refuse, that’s the greatest insult because you’re the brightest light in the room and you have to run. If you don’t run, there’s going to be a less-bright light bulb there.

“You could get a really dumb five-watter like Trump.”

Lee loathes Trump.

“He’s a brash, egotistical, megalomaniac who has been bankrupt too many times and has used way too much of the public’s money,” said Lee.

His views on Republicans are just as strong. Known for his off-speed stuff on the mound, Lee doesn’t disappoint off it.

“To say Republican is a lot nicer than saying a racist homophobe,” he said. “That’s what they are. They’re the worst that I’ve seen.”

Lee’s views fall in the socialist spectrum. He believes marijuana should be legalized (he’s been on the cover of High Times), he’s against the high incarceration rates in the U.S. and he believes in a world without borders.

“We decided we’d never get in the box,” said Donovan. “Being a Canadian on the other side of the border, it makes me insane. The abuse of money and power. It’s crazy. Regular people working three jobs to get by. How do they march on Washington and demand change?”

Lee knows hockey, even mentioning a Free Press article done last week on The Hot Line being inducted into the newly minted Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame.

“Bobby Hull once came to stay at my place for three days,” said Lee. “There was no more booze left in the state of Vermont.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @scottbilleck