Book Review: Have Glove, Will Travel: Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond by Bill Lee and Richard Lally (48 in 2012? #26)

     Bill "Spaceman" Lee is one of the most colorful personalities to ever step onto a baseball diamond and this book perfectly captures that personality in a collection of tales from his days after major league baseball.  Lee is a Boston legend not only for his heroics on the field, but also for his uncensored sound bites and wacky behavior.  This book, though not dealing with the famous (or infamous) incidents that made Lee such an oddity, gives plenty of evidence of that bigger then life persona.
     The book starts with Lee's last days in the majors pitching for the Montreal Expos when Lee claims he was let go and then black balled by the league's owners.  Lee's paranoia combined with his crazy antics leaves one wondering if he was truly black balled or if it's just a figment of his imagination and ego.  To Lee's credit, this conspiracy is never dwelt upon and becomes a launching point for the rest of the story rather than a bitter lament that radiates through the narrative.  The rest of the book follows Lee around the world as he brings his one of a kind personality to anywhere that will let him on a mound and hit clean-up.
     What truly makes this book entertaining is how well it captures Bill Lee.  I'm not sure how much Richard Lally had to work to make Lee fly off every page, but he certainly didn't make Lee appear boring and stale like many of these sport autobiographies can come off.  It would probably take quite a bit to make Lee stale, but at the very least Lally knew when to get out of the way and let the tale tell itself.
     This book is has both moments of great humor and deep sentimentality.  It gives us more then just the crazy persona we saw in the newspapers, and ultimately that is what makes it such a good read.  Lee and Lally do a great job conveying Lee's deep love of the sport that made him famous along with all the quirks that make him so interesting.  Although the themes go beyond the game, this probably isn't a read for people who don't like baseball since everything is framed around the sport.  But if you enjoy baseball or grew up a Red Sox fan this is a highly entertaining read about one of the games most interesting players.