Customer Reviews

Have Glove, Will Travel: Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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I was going to rate this book three stars, but the book rallied in the last few chapters. I was not interested in reading about Bill Lee's adventures around the world as it applied to drugs and other hell-raising escapades. He was put on baseball's black list after going AWOL during a game with the Montreal Expos when a friend of his was unfairly, according to Lee, released. There is a wonderful chapter on the conversation he had with Ted Williams. Williams, of course, claims he made a living off of dumb pitchers. However, Lee challenged Teddy Ballgame by saying he could tell him one reason Williams was such a good hitter that Ted wasn't even aware of. The skeptical, but curious, Williams decided to hear what Lee had to say. After having Williams conduct a simple experiment involving his eyes, Lee made a believer of Williams in regard to which of Williams' eyes was the dominant one. Lee genuinely loves the game of baseball as has previous generations in his family. In fact, his aunt, Annabelle Lee, was a professional ballplayer for nine seasons as the ace left-hander for several women's baseball teams during the 1940's. Her uniform hangs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. For Lee to continue playing wherever a ballgame can be found shows he has a genuine love for the game. There are some very funny anecdotes that will be fun to pass on to others. I give the book four stars rather than five, due to a lot of the aforementioned mischief stories involving drugs and alcohol. The last forty pages, however, make this book a worth while read.

This book is extraordinary. First, it may be the most literate baseball memoir ever written. It reads like an excellent novel with some passages that moved me to tears, not because they were poignant, but because they were so beautifully written. Second, you will never read a more candid self-portrait. Mr. Lee writes honestly and insightfully though humorously about his many shortcomings. But what struck me is that this is a great piece of travel writing, something like a cross between Bill Bryson and the late Hunter Thompson. Lee relates zany and amusing anecdotes about the places he's visited and the exotic characters he's met while searching the globe for the perfect playing field. Lee writes of ending a drought by hitting a homer in Saskatchewan (with an wacky but loving travel piece on the town of Lumsden), educating Ted Williams, of all people, on hittng theory, and how he got arrested three times in one day while playing in Russia. It is all great, great fun. But when he writes about how baseball helped him reconcile with his father and children or of the gift he received from an impoverished woman while visiting Cuban, Lee (and his co-writer Richard Lally) will break your heart. The passages in these sections are as moving as anything you will ever read in a baseball book or any book for that matter. This book is essential reading for anyone who loves baseball or just loves great writing. I cannot wait to see the movie. Bravo!

They called him "Spaceman" - an opinionated, wise-cracking, irreverent, incorrigible, narcissistic party animal. Bill Lee was major league baseball's redheaded step child - an unapologetic, pot smoking counter-culturist in a tradition bound profession who delighted fans while infuriating baseball's brass with his wild antics and outspokenness. His book, `Have Glove Will Travel', is a perfect reflection of his persona, and whether or not you enjoy it will depend heavily on how much you enjoy Bill Lee. Reading it you feel like you are sitting around with "Spaceman", sharing a joint and a bottle while he regales you with story after story of his experiences - some of them perhaps more tall than true, but all of them entertaining.

In `Have Glove Will Travel', Lee tells the stories of his life after major league baseball - from the point in 1982 when he was released from the Montreal Expos and subsequently blackballed from the major leagues for offending the lords of baseball one time too many till the present. Though banished from the temple of the major leagues, baseball was in his blood, and a pitcher is what he was, so he continued his career playing for whatever semi-pro league or outfit that would have him. Playing throughout the U.S. and Canada, South America, Cuba, and Russia with teammates and opponents that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, Bill continued his baseball ways and collected these tales. From running for president on the Rhinoceros Party ticket in 1988 to teaching Ted Williams something he didn't know about his hitting ability, all of these tales are vintage "Spaceman".

Lee's book is easy reading and great entertainment. Each chapter stands alone as a complete tale, and you can read them in pretty much any order that amuses you - stopping to refresh your drink or roll a new one between stories if needed. If you love baseball for the pure joy of it as Lee does, and if you appreciate his non-conformist, screwball ways, then you will be sure to find `Have Glove Will Travel' a homerun of a book.

Theo Logos

First came The Wrong Stuff, a classic of its genre; then the hilarious The Little Red Sox Book, a revisionist Red Sox history (Curse Reversed edition now available in paperback) and now Have Glove Will Travel. Lee is the Hemingway of baseball players.
Pumpsie Greenberg

I read both "The Wrong Stuff", and "Have Glove Will Travel", both writen by Bill Lee. And "Have Glove Will Travel" is a seaqule to "The Wrong Stuff". This book is not as much about baseball as the first was. This book is mostly how Bill Lee lived his life after the majors. He still plays ball in leagues and stays in shape, while playing baseball. I read this book and I was constantly laughing. Bill Lee has a love for baseball and it will always last and never die out. I love baseball and loved this book. I think that anybody as interested in baseball as I am will enjoy this book. It is a great laugh for all levels of ball players. Even for the non-ball player.

Great book, could not put it down or stop laughing. Loved his insights and sense of humor, and brutal honesty towards himself. He was right on the money about Rodney Scott and Bernie Carbo (from his previous book). Saw highlights of the 1981 playoff series with Montreal and LA. Rodney Scott was a great basestealer and very quick. Could see how he made opponents nervous when on the basepaths. Being more of a fan of American League baseball, never got to see him play until the highlight film. Without a doubt, Bernie Carbo might have made a difference in the 1978 playoff game with Boston vs New York. Gossage got most of his outs against right hand batters that day (George Scott, Butch Hobson, Bob Bailey, Dwight Evans, Jim Rice).

Playing the game of baseball for as long as he has proves that Bill Lee played for the love of the game and has done his best to promote it in different parts of the globe. It seems as if todays player forget why they began playing baseball, it was not for money, but for love of the game.

I really enjoyed the book. Very easy to read, very funny, poignant at times, wistful at times. A very entertaining and insightful book. I recommend it, both for people who enjoy Bill Lee and his ways of being, and for people who would like to know more about the inner workings of baseball and its people.

BILL LEE BRINGS US HIS 3RD BOOK CONCERNING HIS BASEBALL AND TRAVELS IN LIFE. ONCE AGAIN IT IS HUMOROUS AND INTERESTING BUT I GOT TIRED OF HIS CONSTANT EXAGGEGRATING EVERY STORY AND I QUESTION HOW MANY AND HOW MUCH OF HIS STORIES ARE TRUE. I THINK HE IS QUITE WITTY AND A GOOD STORY TELLER. HOPEFULLY HE WILL GO TO REHAB AND GET HELP. HE IS DEFINATELY AN ALCOHOLIC AND ADDICT.