Bill Lee

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1969-1982)

Bill Lee was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1982 for the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos, a span of 14 seasons. Across 416 career appearances, he went 119-90 with a 3.62 ERA and 713 strikeouts. Bill Lee was an All-Star.

W (Wins):
Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):
Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):
For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):
Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated

W–L 119–90
ERA 3.62
WHIP 1.36
SO 713
Pitcher PIV -9330.7
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
L / L
Height / Weight
6'3" / 205 lb
Born
12/28/1946 in Burbank, CA, USA
MLB Debut
1969-06-25
Last Game
1982-05-07
Awards
All-Star

Full name: William Francis Lee

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Career Pitching Statistics

Bill Lee — Career Pitching Statistics
W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
119 90 416 225 72 10 19 1944.1 2,122 783 176 531 713 3.62 -9330.7

Career ERA 3.62 vs. league average 3.71 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bill Lee (b. 1946) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1969 BOS AL 1 3 20 1 0 0 0 52.0 56 26 28 45 4.50 3.61 (-25%) -1489.5
1970 BOS AL 2 2 11 5 0 0 1 37.0 48 19 14 19 4.62 3.89 (-19%) 79.5
1971 BOS AL 9 2 47 3 0 0 2 102.0 102 31 46 74 2.74 3.47 (+21%) 505.2
1972 BOS AL 7 4 47 0 0 0 5 84.1 75 30 32 43 3.20 3.26 (+2%) -126.3
1973 BOS AL 17 11 38 33 18 1 1 284.2 275 87 76 120 2.75 3.75 (+27%) 1932.1
1974 BOS AL 17 15 38 37 16 1 0 282.1 320 110 67 95 3.51 3.63 (+3%) -1295.1
1975 BOS AL 17 9 41 34 17 4 0 260.0 274 114 69 78 3.95 3.71 (-6%) -696.6
1976 BOS AL 5 7 24 14 1 0 3 96.0 124 60 28 29 5.62 3.51 (-60%) -2984.2
1977 BOS AL 9 5 27 16 4 0 1 128.0 155 63 29 31 4.43 4.00 (-11%) -1141.5
1978 BOS AL 10 10 28 24 8 1 0 177.0 198 68 59 44 3.46 3.69 (+6%) -3998.1
1979 MON NL 16 10 33 33 6 3 0 222.0 230 75 46 59 3.04 4.00 (+24%) -27.3
1980 MON NL 4 6 24 18 2 0 0 118.0 156 65 22 34 4.96 3.84 (-29%) -1186.1
1981 MON NL 5 6 31 7 0 0 6 88.2 90 29 14 34 2.94 3.58 (+18%) 742.9
1982 MON NL 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 12.1 19 6 1 8 4.38 3.86 (-13%) 354.4
Career · 14 seasons 119 90 416 225 72 10 19 1,944.1 2,122 783 531 713 3.62 — -9,331

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Bill Lee — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
419 197 12 41 3 1 2 10 0 1 63 .208 .212 .264 .476 -438

Career AVG .208 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — 18.9% below league average.

Career OBP .212 vs. league average .323 across their career seasons — 34.4% below league average.

Career SLG .264 vs. league average .378 across their career seasons — 30.1% below league average.

Career OPS .476 vs. league average .701 across their career seasons — 32.1% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bill Lee (b. 1946) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1969 BOS AL 20 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 .000 — — — — 0.0
1970 BOS AL 11 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 .000 — — — — 0.0
1971 BOS AL 47 23 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 1 8 .217 — — — — 0.0
1972 BOS AL 47 16 3 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 7 .188 — — — — 0.0
1973 BOS AL 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1974 BOS AL 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1975 BOS AL 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1976 BOS AL 26 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1977 BOS AL 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1978 BOS AL 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1979 MON NL 33 74 5 16 2 0 0 6 0 0 21 .216 .265 (-19%) .329 (-34%) .397 (-39%) .727 (-37%) -437.8
1980 MON NL 25 41 2 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 .220 — — — — 0.0
1981 MON NL 31 22 1 8 0 0 1 2 0 0 4 .364 — — — — 0.0
1982 MON NL 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 14 seasons 419 197 12 41 3 1 2 10 0 1 63 .208 — — — — -438

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Bill Lee — Playoff Career Batting
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
4 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .167

Playoff Batting by Year

Bill Lee — Playoff Batting by Year
Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1981 NEDIV MON 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1981 NLCS MON 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1975 WS BOS 2 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .167

Playoff Career Pitching

Bill Lee — Playoff Career Pitching
W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
0 0 4 2 0 15.1 15 5 3 8 2.93

Playoff Pitching by Year

Bill Lee — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1981 NEDIV MON 0 0 1 0 0 0.2 2 0 0 1 0.00
1981 NLCS MON 0 0 1 0 0 0.1 1 0 0 0 0.00
1975 WS BOS 0 0 2 2 0 14.1 12 5 3 7 3.14

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (835 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Bill Lee — Batting — Home / Away
SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home20910462216.212
Away2109361914.204

Pitching — Home / Away

Bill Lee — Pitching — Home / Away
SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home2071029.011334232763773.70
Away209915.19893602553363.54

Last 10 Games — Batting

Bill Lee — Last 10 Games — Batting
DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1982-05-07 WSNLADL 000000000
1982-05-04 WSNSDPL 000000000
1982-04-29 WSNSFGL 000000000
1982-04-28 WSNSFGL 000000000
1982-04-24 WSNNYNL 000000000
1982-04-18 WSNNYNW 000000000
1982-04-14 WSNPITW 000000000
1981-10-03 WSNNYNW 000000000
1981-09-29 WSNSTLL 100000000
1981-09-24 WSNPITW 311001102

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Bill Lee — Last 10 Games — Pitching
DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1982-05-07 WSNLAD — 3.0311010
1982-05-04 WSNSDP — 1.1100020
1982-04-29 WSNSFG — 2.0200000
1982-04-28 WSNSFG — 2.1533110
1982-04-24 WSNNYN — 2.0300020
1982-04-18 WSNNYN — 0.2121001
1982-04-14 WSNPIT — 1.0411020
1981-10-03 WSNNYN W 2.0200000
1981-09-29 WSNSTL L 2.1866100
1981-09-24 WSNPIT W 7.2611160

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Bill Lee — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
P 416 225 83 415 28 24

Season-by-Season Fielding

Bill Lee — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1969 BOS P 20 1 2 6 1 0
1970 BOS P 11 5 1 10 0 1
1971 BOS P 47 3 2 19 1 0
1972 BOS P 47 0 6 24 0 2
1973 BOS P 38 33 10 57 6 2
1974 BOS P 38 37 9 69 8 3
1975 BOS P 41 34 9 54 5 4
1976 BOS P 24 14 2 22 2 1
1977 BOS P 27 16 3 32 1 4
1978 BOS P 28 24 9 32 3 2
1979 MON P 33 33 11 41 1 2
1980 MON P 24 18 7 19 0 2
1981 MON P 31 7 12 27 0 1
1982 MON P 7 0 0 3 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Bill Lee (b. 1946) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position Games
Pitcher 416
Designated Hitter 2

Awards & Honors

Bill Lee — Awards & Honors
Year Award Notes
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-05-23
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-08-22

College History

Bill Lee — College History
School Name City State Years Attended
University of Southern California Los Angeles CA 1966, 1967, 1968

Award Voting History

Bill Lee — Award Voting History
Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1975 Most Valuable Player AL 23th 5.0 336 0

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Bill Lee (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Jack Scott
    103-109, 3.85 ERA
  2. 85
    Hal Carlson
    114-120, 3.97 ERA
  3. 83
    Watson Clark
    111-97, 3.66 ERA
  4. 81
    Ray Herbert
    104-107, 4.01 ERA
  5. 80
    Al Smith
    99-101, 3.72 ERA
  6. 80
    Larry Gura
    126-97, 3.76 ERA

Bill Lee: the record in brief

The profile opens with Bill Lee's first major league game on June 25, 1969; the last one listed came on May 7, 1982. Lee played for the Boston Red Sox (1969 to 1978) and the Montreal Expos (1979 through 1982). Lee, born on December 28, 1946, in Burbank, CA, USA, is listed as a pitcher and both batted and threw left-handed. Size on record: 6'3" and 205 pounds. The given name on file is William Francis Lee.

The pitching table credits Lee with a 119-90 record and a 3.62 ERA in 416 games. The same table counts 713 strikeouts, 72 complete games, 10 shutouts, and 19 saves. Lee's 3.62 ERA was close to the 3.71 league figure for those seasons. No season topped the 17 wins of 1973. Among the heaviest workloads, the lowest ERA was 2.75 in 1973, when the league's was 3.75.

The awards table records Player of the Week, in 1975. The bio's awards line reads All-Star.

Frequently Asked Questions about Bill Lee

What years did Bill Lee play?
Bill Lee played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1982.
Was Bill Lee a pitcher?
Yes. Bill Lee pitched in the major leagues, recording 119 wins and 713 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Bill Lee hit?
Bill Lee hit 2 career home runs with 41 hits.
What was Bill Lee's career batting average?
Bill Lee batted .208 over his career, with 41 hits in 197 at bats.
How many RBI did Bill Lee have?
Bill Lee drove in 10 runs in his career.
What was Bill Lee's career ERA?
Bill Lee finished with a 3.62 career ERA, going 119-90 with 713 strikeouts.