Bill Lee, Burlington Cardinal

Bill Lee, you must know Bill Lee and why we be kindred spirits. He played for the Burlington Cardinals today, a team of aging ball players who haven’t switched over to the larger ball and the shorter baselines. Bill did not disappoint.

Leaving aside how intimidated I felt to meet him. Didn’t want to interview him. Just wanted to talk with him, take his picture and see him play. I had two ins. First, he plays on a team called the Burlington Cardinals that my SABR buddy, Tom Simon, a Burlington Lawyer, plays on. Second, my old friend and baseball cohort who lived next door to me at 67 East 11th Street, NYC, Rick Lally, wrote The Wrong Stuff, a baseball bio about the “Spaceman.” “hi, Bill, I am Lorin Duckman, The Duck. I am a friend of Dick Lally’s.” “You must be a good listener.” “Not really.”

Bill warmed up by playing long toss with Tom. He cannot pitch more than five innings, so they were going to start him in center field. After a few of Tom’s throws went over Bill’s head which required him to jog to get them, more running than he wanted to do, the game of catch ended. Bill continued his warm up by standing at bat while the Cardinal pitcher warmed up.

I didn’t want to ask any questions, especially ones he has been asked. I wanted to make contact so he would feel comfortable around me as a photographer and not treat me like a guy with a camera who didn’t know who he was or respect him for having made the show doing his thing. “If you had to pick between Don Zimmer and George Steinbrenner to go to lunch with, which would you choose.” “Depends on how hungry I am. No, that’s a tough one.” Tough one my ass, from a guy who said on the Bosse’s death, “if he’ll freezes over, he’ll be skating.”

We moved to the dugout, where the conversation turned to Montreal. “Don’t drive to that park. Stay in town and take the subway.” He played there at the end of his career, banished by Zimmer, who didn’t like his eccentricities.

Naturally happy, especially since he was playing ball and he coulda been high, he took his place in the outfield. You could tell when he ran, slow as it was, he had knee problems. He talked to anyone and everyone. If someone was swinging a bat, he offered some help. Throws, catches, he had a running commentary. Played flawlessly, no balls to catch or throw, and returned to the bench. He moved around, steely eying the pitcher. Inning over, he returned to the field and had another flawless inning.


The person with the scorebook called out the order. He was up first. He took two bats and limbered up like you see them in the majors. I approached. “Sorry, I don’t remember if you could hit or not hit. How did you do with the Red Sox?” I didn’t bat when I played for the Sox.” “So you played for them before 1971?” “No, I guess I did hit there. But I did hit a homer against Odell Jones and I batted .364 for the Expos.

Then he moved to the plate, Casey like (he wears 37, I know you thought I meant the other Casey). First pitch he got in front of and hit a screeching liner, foul, over the first baseman’s head. It sounded solid, landing well in front of the light pole. He took a two balls and a called strike and then another ball. On the you-know-in-this-league-they-throw-a-strike pitch, he squashed the hooking liner that popped first and then screamed out the right field line around the fair pole and up the hill for a ground-rule homer. Its a Pesky pole sort of shot, but you are at Callahan Field in Burlington, not Fenway.

Bill didn’t know it was a  homer. The ball trickled down the hill. He trodded around the bases going as fast as he could, hoping I think to have a double. The knowledgeable on the bench called to the umpire, “Its a home run.” “The umpire remembered the ground rules and gave the touch-them-all sign. Bill stopped at second. The team came on to the field beseeching him to keep running, which he did. He finished the victory lap with head held high and came home to high fives. “Why didn’t you guys tell me it was a home run, I would have stopped running sooner.

“I made this bat for David Ortiz. I choke down on it. He likes it a little longer. Feel that wood. Vermont made. I have a factory in Craftsbury.” He went on for a few more seconds, naming the players who buy his bats. “Kalish uses one of my bats. Hit a homer with it.” I picked it up. Long and heavy, top heavy. Like you know if you got the barrell of the bat on the ball, it was gone.

Man, he seemed happy. But it was only the second inning and he still had to play the field for a few innings, before he would pitch. Not too bad for a guy of 63, eh? But don’t say that its the new 40.

Author: duckshots

Lapsed lawyer. Reader. Photographer. Jewish. Strongly attached to loving, caring, wife-Sharon. Working at remaining relevant. Hoping that my body and mind outlive my dreams. Maybe something I blog will make some sense.

40 thoughts on “Bill Lee, Burlington Cardinal”

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  16. I think the article reminds us again of the simple things to do to improve a practice. I’ve yet to see a doctor (or personally) receive a patient’s anger for being late or bad things happening around the office. Patients yell at just about anyone and everyone except the doctor. So I agree with the Doc being the calming influence around the office.Also, this brings up the consumer vs. patient debate. I don’t know if they are mutually exclusive, but I don’t like the idea of “consumer” because if the company doesn’t give you what you want, you go somewhere else. Well, I’m sure that my refusal to hand out antibiotics for sinus infections, colds, and earaches may cost me a few patients (maybe ones that I wouldn’t want in my practice anyway or maybe it’s just that I do a poor job of convincing people they don’t need them [usually], thanks standard of care!) 25 years later, I would be interested to see an xray of each of your knees- the normal one and the ACL deficient one. I bet there are significant side to side differences.Activity modification is still a viable option for an ACL tear in the right patient/setting. But 25 years ago, the surgery was different, the technology (implants) were different and most surgeons would have kept you in the hospital 3-5 days (and some even would have put you in a cast up to your hip for 6 weeks after this operation.)

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