Do we like them?

Do we like Bill "Spaceman" Lee?

Our score: 6 out of 10. Nothing harmful found and a progressive platform, but a thin record on the issues that matter most to us.

Bill Lee pitched in the majors for more than a decade, mostly as a left-hander for the Red Sox through the 1970s and then the Expos. He picked up the 'Spaceman' tag for being unlike any other ballplayer. Decades on, reporters still treat him as a one-of-a-kind character.

His career is a story of fights with management. His own account, repeated in interviews, is that he stood up for teammates, including a mate the Red Sox traded and a friend the Expos let go. In that telling, those stands cost him his jobs, first in Boston and then in the league. Whether that's the full story or Spaceman polishing his legend, it's the version he stands behind.

On the harm check, we found no harmful words or acts of his own. In 2016 he ran for Vermont governor for the Liberty Union Party, backing legalised and taxed marijuana, single-payer health care and paid family leave. That's a platform on the side of ordinary people. We found nothing from him on trans or LGBTQ+ people, good or bad, so that's a gap.

Nothing new on him lately. His most recent coverage is old stories and a reminder of his stint with the Savannah Bananas, where he joked that they'd robbed him of the right to die on the mound.

The good stuff is mostly character rather than charity we could verify. Fans love him as a free thinker who says what he thinks. We saw mentions of him appearing at charity fundraisers, but couldn't pin down dates or details, so we're not counting them.

So would we support him? Comfortably, if a bit thinly. He's a left-leaning eccentric with no harm on the record and a long habit of backing the little guy. A cleaner pass would need us to find him saying something on LGBTQ+ rights.