Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey

We want to thank everyone for coming out to the World Premiere at Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. It was a great success and The Spaceman was definitely in the house. There are pictures on our myspace site www.myspace.com/spacemanfilm and at Getty Images under “Silverdocs.”

http://silverdocs.com/2006/films/space.aspx

“World Baseball Classic, Rounds 1 & 2: Baseball Primero, Politicos Nunca”

by Bill “Spaceman” Lee, somewhere on a beach in Pinones, Puerto Rico

Panama played better than their 0-3 record looks. 0-3 suggests you can’t play. China was 0-3. Now, China can’t play! At least at this level. But they showed up. That’s good for the planet. I first played against the Big Red Machine in ’76 outside of Hang Chow. I think it was Canton in those days. They were real bad back in the Nixon/Kissinger era. Good at ping pong though. I taught ‘em their first curveball. It doesn’t seem to have took. When you’re five runs for and forty against it tells me you need some pitching and defense first. Hitting is just desire.

Panama’s losses were heartbreaks first, and disillusionment last. They lose 2-1 to Puerto Rico, a game that could have gone either way. Next, they meet their nemesis La Isla del Jardin, Cuba who has beaten them seven straight times, pounding them in more ways than one during their last encounter in Rotterdam. There were two bench clearing brawls and four ejections after a bad bean ball incident. Now, Panama had a chance to win this game twice in the bottom of the ninth only to have the ethereal quicksilver of victory slip through Carlos Lee’s fingers. And last, the disillusionment of a Shairon Martis seven inning no hitter. They were blanked by the 18 year old pitcher from the Netherlands. Marti threw the no hitter without striking out a soul. You can’t say Panama went down with their bats on their shoulders. They just found no fertile land for their balls to fall.

Now that Fidel fellow, he sure is a lucky man. He has survived changing U.S. regimes going all the way back to Ike. He has survived the Soviets trying to dominate the most beautiful island in the Caribbean. When they left, there was a lot of scattered DNA, Russian first names, camel buses and some indestructible Ladas. Hell, someone even tried to poison him with a chicken salad sandwich. His WBC baseball team is by far luckier. They survived him! Fidel had them so tight after his two hour closed door pep talk. “How tight were they, Jose?” Man, you couldn’t pull a nail out of their asses with a pair of eight inch pliers. Thank God the younger players fell asleep.

So Bill, why did you jump in your Leer and head to Puerto Rico? To loosen their sphincters? No, not really. The snow is beginning to show signs of wear and all my trees in Vermont are tapped. The roads are getting greasy and breaking up. The sap is running. We only had three weeks of winter when the trees went to sleep. I heard the polar ice cap is melting and Polar bears are starting to look like Mark Spitz. No, I came here because it’s where baseball is played with pride. The Panama/Cuba game on ESPN gave me the bug. It was like War and Peace. There was bad base running, misjudged fly balls, then great double plays and over the shoulder catches. It was a ballet, with up and down emotions. ESPN did a great job after a slow start with O Destrade and O Hershiser (even though he doesn’t know the difference between a slider and a fork ball). And oh, that third announcer that butchered the Spanish names, that would be Gary Thorn. Hell, I’ve butchered more languages than a meat cutter, price chopper.

Still the Cubans grabbed victory from the proverbial jaws of defeat. Both teams dug out of more holes than Marines on Mount Surabachi. Speaking of Iwojima, I heard back on the mainland that the U.S. came from behind to defeat the Japanese on a controversial call. When confronted by U.S. skipper Buck Martinez, the home plate umpire overruled the third base umpire’s correct call. What exactly did Martinez say to the umpire? My guess, “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Come to think of it, Gore Vidal once said that we’ve been in perpetual war for perpetual peace since WWII. Hey Bud, is this WBC a wag the dog? You know it’s the first anniversary of the House Subcommittee hearing on steroids? McGuire called Canseco a liar. Now they’re going to take Big Mac’s name off of Interstate 70 in St. Louis. Lucky for him there’s a McDonald’s at every exit. Come on Bill, get back to the island.

The Cuban pitcher came back from a 3 and 1, bases loaded situation twice. What that means to the lay person is, the pitcher was in deep shit. Carlos Lee took a slider for strike two and swung through a high fastball for out number two. The pitcher promptly puts himself into the 3 and 1 hole again. The Cuban catcher Pestano stand up walks five feet from the pitcher, points and gives him a “suck it up, Comrade” stare? Next pitch, fast ball right down Broadway, strike 2. Then a 3-2 curve ball down and in. Too close to take, batter fouls it off. Next pitch fast ball, foul ball. Then on the seventh pitch of the tie breaker, a little jam shot to center. It’s going to drop in. Panama is going to break the curse. But no, the Russkie makes an over the shoulder catch to save the game.

Upon arriving in Puerto Rico, I went straight to Hiram Bithorn Stadium to see the Cubans defeat the Netherlands and advance to the second round. Cuba then went on to defeat host country, Puerto Rico to advance to the semi-finals in San Diego. I can’t wait to see how far they go. I came into this tournament rooting for the Cubans. I always loved an underdog. Then I saw the Korean team. Hell, it was a Lee family reunion. You had, Go Long Lee and his seven brothers. If there’s a Cuba/Korea final, I can’t lose. You know, I never cared much for Bud Selig. He always looked like a used car salesman to me. But if the whole world plays baseball, before you know it, we’ll have world peace. This Nobel Prize is for you, Bud.

Hey it’s Brett, checking in from the World Cup of Ski Racing tour in gorgeous Chamonix, France. Today’s downhill is the last World Cup race before the Olympics in Torino, Italy. I am here helping NBC Sports produce some content with Bode Miller and his boys, Jake Serino and cousin “Big Chance” Stith, who caravan together along the tour

http://www.nbcolympics.com/bodebyjake/index.html

Check out the new site design by David Tisdale (www.staffordtisdale.com) and the new trailer we cut for the Spaceman film.

au revoir

A few years ago, I had the good fortune to interview legendary USC
baseball coach Rod Dedeaux, who died yesterday of complications from a
recent stroke at 91 years old. Bill Lee was one of his students, along
with so many others including Tom Seaver, Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson,
Dave Kingman, and Fred Lynn. When we spent time with Bill in Cuba, he
spoke so highly of Rod that we knew we had to meet with him, given the
opportunity.

We scheduled an appointment through his friendly assistant and drove
to downtown LA, to the offices of Dart Trucking, the company he owned
and operated for so many years. In fact, he would run his company in
the mornings and then make the short commute daily to USC for
afternoon baseball practices.

We were greeted by a man who, although in his late eighties, was tan
and fit, outfitted in a crisp white dress shirt with suspenders
featuring cartoon baseball players fielding ground balls and pop ups.
He leaned on a Louisville slugger that had been fashioned into a cane
with a rubber stopper on the bottom and a curved handle at the other
end. Rod ushered us into a large conference room, the walls lined
with hundreds of framed photos, clippings, and messages. There he was
with Sparky Anderson on the field before one of the 1975 World Series
games: Sparky was one of his batboys way back when and Lee and Lynn
were of course starring in the series. There he was with Madonna,
teaching her the mechanics of throwing on the set of “A League of
Their Own.” There were numerous photos with his “brother” Tommy
Lasorda. For a baseball fan, this was like visiting the Vatican.

We sat down at the same conference room table where Rod played a key
role in getting baseball into the Olympics. There was a glimmer in his
eyes as he recounted different teams, games, and players that he had
been a part of. He talked about University of Minnesota pitcher Dave
Winfield and his amazing fastball in Omaha. He remembered ball and
strike counts, scores, and who was on base from games in 1968.
Incredible. It was clear that he and Bill Lee understood each other,
and Rod’s friendship with Casey Stengel may have been a big reason
why. We didn’t mind when a phone call from Peter O’Malley interrupted
the interview. He talked about values, self-discipline, and doing
things the “right way.” I was proud when he called me “Tiger”, his
term of endearment.

Rod may not have gotten as much of the publicity or fame as his
cross-town-colleague and friend John Wooden, but the numbers and his
legacy speak for themselves: In his 45-year tenure at USC, he led the
Trojans to an unprecedented 11 national titles, 28 conference
championships and an overall record of 1,332-571-11, for a superb .699
winning percentage. He put USC baseball, and probably college baseball
itself, on the map. I’m just glad I got to spend a couple of hours
with him in his conference room.