Former Major League Baseball player Bill “Spaceman” Lee will take the mound near Cooperstown Friday, June 19, for an 1886/1895 Vintage Base Ball Showcase between the Mountain Athletic Club of Fleischmann and the San Francisco Pelicans of the Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League.
The game will take place at 3 p.m., Friday, on Dewey Field at the Cooperstown Beaver Valley Camp in the town of Hartwick.
Lee, 79, is the oldest player to have pitched in a professional game and is still a competitor.
In October, he threw four innings with two earned runs in an 1886 game for his family’s team, the Strong Annabelles, in a game against the Dublin Aces under the lights in the Northern Coast Classic in Berkley, Calif.
Famous for his “leephus” pitch and career with the Boston Red Sox, where he is inducted into the team Hall of Fame, the Montreal Expos and more recently the Savannah Bananas, Lee said he continues to draw inspiration from his Aunt Annabelle Lee, a star pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. Lee said he credits his aunt with teaching him how to throw a curveball when he was a child in California.
Dewey Field is about 10 minutes from Cooperstown at 138 Towers Road. Admission is free and donations appreciated.
Contact Collin Miller at macvb1895@gmail.com for more information.