Ridgefield Playhouse to Screen SPACEMAN: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY, 2/21

Ridgefield Playhouse will present the baseball documentary, Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey, on Friday, February 21st. Bill Lee, former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and subject of the film, will appear for a special Q&A following the screening.

For information and/or to purchase reserved tickets, please go to the Ridgefield Playhouse, or online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org or by phone 203-438-5795. The Ridgefield Playhouse is located at 80 East Ridge Ave., Ridgefield, CT 0687

Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey is a documentary about former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expo star pitcher, Bill "The Spaceman" Lee. Throughout the 1970's, Bill Lee was a brilliant left handed pitcher who defied every manager or front office executive who tried to control him.

Produced and directed by Brett Rapkin, the documentary portrays Bill Lee as the ultimate gonzo player. For 14 years as a pitcher (1969-1982), ten with Boston and four with Montreal, he was anything but a conventional major league ballplayer. His career record included three consecutive 17-win seasons with the Red Sox (1973-1975) and a 16-win season with the Montreal Expos in 1979. He was selected to the American League All-Star squad in 1973 and pitched in the World Series in 1975 against the Cincinnati Reds.

Baseball fans loved him and so did sportswriters who delighted in asking him the usual baseball questions, only to get philosophical responses involving the relationship between existentialism and the curveball or the effects of karma on a pitcher's rotator cuff.

Exiled from professional baseball in 1983, Bill Lee began to roam the world in search of opportunities to play the sport he loves. Harkening back to the days of barnstormers like Satchel Paige, Lee's adventures have taken him across the United States to China, Russia, South America, and every province in Canada.

Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey follows Bill Lee to Cuba, a bastion of amateur baseball and a place where the game is free of overpaid players, steroid scandals and outrageous ticket prices. The film documents Lee, on a road trip from his farm in Vermont to the impoverished baseball mecca of Cuba and on his triumphant return to Fenway Park.

Today at 67, Lee is still a fierce competitor on the field. He relishes the competition and the opportunity to play with people from a culture as in love with the purity of the game as he is. His affection for the Cuban people and their appreciation for him shine throughout the film.

Along for the ride, Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey captures the essence of Bill Lee's vagabond lifestyle. During the journey, we see photos and footage from Lee's eccentric past and hear from former teammates, family members, sportswriters, fans, and Lee himself about the long, strange trip that has spawned the legend of the "Spaceman." At the Q&A, he will answer questions from audience members, two of whom can win an autographed wooden bat or a baseball signed by Bill Lee.

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