November 17, 2020

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Did you know Bill Lee is a locksmith?

He can pick the door in your locked car and have you driving away within seconds.

Did you know the former Expos pitcher's first wife, Miss Alaska 1967 Mary Lou Helfrich, cold-cocked him one time and put him out cold for five minutes? No word of a lie.

All this and more is contained in a just-released blockbuster, door-stopping book about Lee by superbly talented American Scott Russell. It's called The Spaceman Chronicles: The Life of the Earthling Named Bill Lee.

Lee holds nothing back and neither does Russell, a friend of Lee's for decades. There is stuff you have never read before. As Russell told me, "We've blown the doors off professional sports, Hollywood and government. We meticuously and carefully fact-checked and researched our musings.''

Did you know that Lee, his current wife Diana Donovan of Calgary and his first two wives got together for a visit not long ago? Helfrich, Graig Nettles and Ellie Rodriguez, another major-leaguer who took a round out of Lee, are listed in one chapter as The Three Sluggers. Nettles manhandled Lee during a bench-clearing brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox. Lee has never forgiven Nettles for that episode.

Also she's not listed as a slugger, the wife of former Expos outfielder Jim Wohlford kicked Lee in the private parts with her high heels on in Cooperstown a few years ago during a party, in retaliation for Lee hitting her husband during a game in 1976 -- when Wohlford was playing for Kansas City and Lee was with the Red Sox.

"God, was she sloshed,'' Lee told Russell about Mrs. Wohlford ."You have to admire a woman, who holds a grudge for 41 years.''

And talking of grudges, the animosity between Lee and Don Zimmer, one of his former Boston managers, is brought out into the open in this book. Lee once called Zimmer a gerbil and Zimmer despised Lee until the day he died.

Zimmer was manager of the Red Sox when they blew a 14-game lead to the Yankees in 1978. Remember that collapse? Despite repeated attempts by Boston great Carl Yastzremski to try and coax Zimmer to use Lee as a starter in the dying days of the pennant race when the Red Sox were falling apart, Zimmer refused because of the gerbil comment. In one of the important games, Zimmer, in his infinite wisdom, chose to start Bobby Sprowl instead of Lee. Ever heard of Sprowl? Zimmer, though, would use Lee in relief, often in mop-up roles.

By my estimation, about 25% of this book is Expos related and much of it is about his time with the Red Sox but also baseball in general. Lee and Russell list Expos legends John McHale and Jim Fanning as No. 1 in their list of villains, although the actual word they use is much more inflammatory. Lee lists himself as No. 10 on that list.

The list of good guys include Canadian Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.), one of Lee's teammates in Boston. Also in Lee's good graces are Expos teammates Rodney Scott, Tony Perez, John Milner and Ross Grimsley, who is referred to as Scuz. There is no mention of Blue Monday in the book and there is no mention of Expos pitcher Steve Rogers, although there is a photo of Rogers.

There is much ado, as expected, of that wrong decision Lee made in May of 1982 when he left the Expos clubhouse to spend a few hours in a nearby bar to protest the decision by McHale and Fanning to release his buddy Scott.

In retaliation for Lee leaving the team, McHale released Lee. He would never play in the majors again. The book looks at how Lee had become persona non grata and there was what appeared to be a decision by MLB teams to boycott any attempts by Lee to appear in another uniform. The word 'blackballed' was used. Lee was given an unofficial lifetime ban, Russell wrote.

Lee tells the author of the time Hank Aaron had initially tried to get Lee a tryout with the Atlanta Braves several years after he was released. In the end, Aaron basically apologized to Lee that his hands were tied and he was advised that Lee wouldn't be allowed a tryout.

The same thing happened at a San Diego Padres spring-training visit in 1984. Like Aaron, Padres manager Dick Williams, his Expos manager, told Lee he was not welcome in camp. Williams was apologetic. He wanted to bring Lee into camp but his superiors overruled him.

So many nuggets and secrets unlocked in this book. Too many to mention. Yaz and Carlton Fisk, another Boston teammate of Lee's, are not in Lee's good books and neither are many opposing players.

"I don't suspect Keith Hernandez will recommend this book,'' Russell said in an interview.

"He is as unique as the Grand Canyon,'' Russell wrote in the book about Lee. "He's led a remarkable life, a life that, admirably, is still evolving.''

That's why, to this day, Lee, who so happened to be a college teammate of O.J. Simpson at Southern Cal, is still one of the most popular Expos of all time.

As far as Lee being a locksmith, the book will tell you that he installed new locks to stop the likes of James Arness, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan from entering their houses. Read the book to find out why.

The Spaceman Chronicles is available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Nobles. It isn't yet listed for sale on the Chapters/Indigo website in Canada but this writer has suggested to non-fiction/sports book buyer Brandon Forsyth that the book be brought in.

The book boasts 426 pages and 119 chapters of fun reading.

Danny Gallagher's Expos book Always Remembered was released earlier this year.