Have Glove, Will Travel_ Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond - Bill Lee [0]
Title Page
Dedication
Praise
Acknowledgments
PROLOGUE - Frozen Out in Port Hawkesbury
1 - A SEASON UNDER THE INFLUENCE
2 - SMALL WORLD
3 - RINGSIDE FOR THE APOCALYPSE
4 - DON’T CRY FOR ME, VENEZUELA
5 - INTERLUDE
6 - THE UNNATURAL
7 - TO RUSSIA WITH GLOVE
8 - STUMPED ON THE STUMP
9 - ALMOST A GOOD IDEA
10 - THE CURSE
11 - REVELATION IN MAINE
12 - FLYING WITH THE GOLDEN JET
13 - BABES IN THE WOODS
14 - A MAD DASH TO CUBA
15 - THE ROAD THROUGH VINALES
16 - THE PREACHER BLOWS A SAVE IN LANDISBURG
17 - VERMONT TALES
18 - BACK IN THE LAND OF BEISBOL
19 - HANGIN’ WITH THE BIG DOG
20 - OF FATHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN
EPILOGUE - Have Glove, Still Travel
An excerpt from the baseball classic The Wrong Stuff by Bill Lee and Richard Lally In Stores May 2006
Also by Bill Lee and Richard Lally
About the Authors
Other Books by the Authors
Copyright Page
To Diana Lee Donovan
—Bill Lee
In memory of my parents, Richard, the Marine, and Anne, the Brooklyn Dodgers fan
—Richard Lally
Praise for Have Glove, Will Travel
“Bill and I have agreed to blurb each other’s books, and assuming he keeps his end of the bargain, I’d like to say that Have Glove, Will Travel is marvelous. It’s Johnny Appleseed meets Hunter Thompson.”
—Jim Bouton
“Lee speaks eloquently of the connection between baseball and male bonding, especially between fathers and sons. This is a thoughtful and droll journal of an itinerant journeyman, content to ply his trade for whatever he can get out of the experience.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A savvy piece of travel writing . . . Lee brilliantly delivers the beauty of elemental baseball.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A hilarious sequel to The Wrong Stuff.”
—New York Post
“Full of comic riffs.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
Praise for The Wrong Stuff
“The funniest book to come out of the locker room since Jim Bouton’s Ball Four!”
—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
“The Wrong Stuff will keep you in stitches. The Spaceman pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos gets a laugh on every page.”
—Larry King, USA Today
“Full of funny and sometimes telling anecdotes about wild and crazy guys playing a kid’s game under adult pressures.”
—Gene Lyons, Newsweek
“As crazy and delightful as Bill Lee.”
—Dick Schaap
“An accurate picture of what it’s like to be in the major leagues.”
—Terry Pluto, Cleveland Plain Dealer
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank my father, William Lee Jr., my mom, Paula Hunt Lee, my brother, Paul, and my aunt Annabelle for their enduring love and encouragement. My daughters, Caitlin and Anna, my sons, Mike and Andy, and their wives, Shelley and Leslie, are a continual source of joy and inspiration as are my three grandchildren, Logan, Kazden, and Hunter. I also want to thank all of my Vermont neighbors, particularly Mr. and Mrs. David Reed and Doctor and Mrs. Lorraine Starr and their families for their friendship and support. Richard Lally continues to be a friend as well as a partner, the best Sacco any Vanzetti could ask for. I would be remiss if I did not thank all those highway patrolmen in Canada and New England who have often chosen to look the other way. And special thanks to every player I competed with or against over the last forty years and then some. Each one of you is a teammate.
—Bill Lee
I must first thank our brilliant editor, Annik La Farge, for believing in this project and guiding us to its completion. During the months when this book was all I thought about, my agent, Mark Reiter, once again proved to be a loyal ally and friend. He always makes my job easy.
Whenever I needed a fact checked or some unmanageable copy smoothed or just craved encouragement, I turned to my Gang of Usual Suspects: Billy Altman, Rob Neyer, Jordan Sprechman, Bill Daughtry, Jim Gerard, John Collett, Eve Lederman, Bill Shannon, and Vincent Parker. Pete Fornatale rates a special mention for encouraging us to write this book back when it was barely more than an idea. Annik La Farge’s assistant editor, Mario Rojas, helped to keep us on schedule, and