Bill Lee
Boston Red Sox 1969–1978; Montreal Expos 1979–1982
Percentile snapshot
1979 season — qualified pitchers
of 86 qualified 1979 pitchers (min 160 IP)
Career, era-adjusted
ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.
Season by season
Batting
| Season | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | wRC+ | OPS+ | wOBA | sWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | -135.3 | -100.0 | .000 | -0.1 |
| 1970 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | -136.7 | -100.0 | .000 | -0.1 |
| 1971 | 47 | 27 | 23 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | .217 | .250 | .217 | .467 | 21.4 | 30.2 | .226 | 2.3 |
| 1972 | 47 | 16 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .188 | .188 | .500 | .688 | 87.4 | 95.5 | .305 | 1.0 |
| 1973 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7.0 |
| 1974 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.9 |
| 1975 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2.9 |
| 1976 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | -1.1 |
| 1977 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1.3 |
| 1978 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.1 |
| 1979 | 33 | 81 | 74 | 5 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | .216 | .216 | .243 | .459 | 17.6 | 26.6 | .211 | 4.1 |
| 1980 | 25 | 41 | 41 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .220 | .220 | .244 | .463 | 20.6 | 30.1 | .214 | -0.8 |
| 1981 | 31 | 22 | 22 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .364 | .364 | .500 | .864 | 148.3 | 143.3 | .397 | 1.8 |
| 1982 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0.0 |
Pitching
| Season | G | GS | W | L | SV | CG | SHO | H | ER | BB | SO | HR | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | FIP | FIP- | ERA+ | sWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 26 | 28 | 45 | 9 | 52.0 | 4.50 | 1.615 | 7.79 | 4.61 | 120.9 | 84.8 | -0.1 |
| 1970 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 19 | 14 | 19 | 3 | 37.0 | 4.62 | 1.676 | 4.62 | 3.59 | 90.8 | 85.5 | -0.1 |
| 1971 | 47 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 102 | 31 | 46 | 74 | 7 | 102.0 | 2.74 | 1.451 | 6.53 | 3.18 | 86.8 | 134.0 | 2.3 |
| 1972 | 47 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 30 | 32 | 43 | 5 | 84.3 | 3.20 | 1.269 | 4.59 | 3.20 | 99.4 | 100.4 | 1.0 |
| 1973 | 38 | 33 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 275 | 87 | 76 | 120 | 20 | 284.7 | 2.75 | 1.233 | 3.79 | 3.50 | 87.5 | 145.6 | 7.0 |
| 1974 | 38 | 37 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 320 | 110 | 67 | 95 | 25 | 282.3 | 3.51 | 1.371 | 3.03 | 3.80 | 99.5 | 109.0 | 3.9 |
| 1975 | 41 | 34 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 274 | 114 | 69 | 78 | 20 | 260.0 | 3.95 | 1.319 | 2.70 | 3.79 | 93.4 | 102.7 | 2.9 |
| 1976 | 24 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 124 | 60 | 28 | 29 | 13 | 96.0 | 5.63 | 1.583 | 2.72 | 4.74 | 122.6 | 68.8 | -1.1 |
| 1977 | 27 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 155 | 63 | 29 | 31 | 14 | 128.0 | 4.43 | 1.438 | 2.18 | 4.36 | 98.1 | 100.3 | 1.3 |
| 1978 | 28 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 198 | 68 | 59 | 44 | 20 | 177.0 | 3.46 | 1.452 | 2.24 | 4.56 | 111.8 | 117.9 | 3.1 |
| 1979 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 230 | 75 | 46 | 59 | 20 | 222.0 | 3.04 | 1.243 | 2.39 | 3.97 | 107.7 | 121.1 | 4.1 |
| 1980 | 24 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 156 | 65 | 22 | 34 | 13 | 118.0 | 4.96 | 1.508 | 2.59 | 4.24 | 118.2 | 72.3 | -0.8 |
| 1981 | 31 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 29 | 14 | 34 | 6 | 88.7 | 2.94 | 1.173 | 3.45 | 3.32 | 94.8 | 119.2 | 1.8 |
| 1982 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 12.3 | 4.38 | 1.622 | 5.84 | 2.75 | 75.2 | 83.4 | 0.0 |
sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.
Career totals
Batting
Pitching
A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.
Best games
Batting
| Date | Game | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980-06-01 | WSH @ STL Gameday | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 1972-09-11 | BOS @ CLE Gameday | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 1981-09-24 | PIT @ WSH Gameday | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 1971-08-02 | BOS @ BAL Gameday | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 1979-09-18 | PIT @ WSH Gameday | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Pitching
| Date | Game | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975-09-09 | BOS @ CLE Gameday | 9.1 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| 1973-06-20 | BOS @ MIL Gameday | 9.0 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 1973-08-24 | BOS @ LAA Gameday | 9.0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 1973-05-24 | MIL @ BOS Gameday | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 1973-08-14 | ATH @ BOS Gameday | 9.0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.
Honors
Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.