Editing Bill Lee (left-handed pitcher) (section)

===Later Red Sox career===
During the [[1978 Boston Red Sox season|1978 season]], Lee and Red Sox manager [[Don Zimmer]] engaged in an ongoing public feud over the handling of the pitching staff. Lee's independence and iconoclastic nature clashed with Zimmer's old-school, conservative personality. Lee and a few other Red Sox formed what they called "The Buffalo Heads" as a response to the manager. Zimmer then relegated Lee to the bullpen, and management traded Hall of Famer [[Ferguson Jenkins]] and [[Bernie Carbo]]. Lee threatened to retire after his friend Carbo was traded; he subsequently referred to Zimmer as "the gerbil", which proved to be the last straw.<ref name=jacobin /> Lee briefly left the Red Sox after pitching in a 10–9 win at home over California on June 12 but returned a few days later; however, during the home stretch, when the Red Sox were battling the Yankees for the pennant, Zimmer refused to pitch Lee. The Red Sox lost the pennant in a one-game playoff with the Yankees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Best |first=Jason |title=October 2, 1978: Bucky Dent’s home run spurs Yankees to division title in AL East tiebreaker – Society for American Baseball Research |url=https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-2-1978-bucky-dents-home-run-spurs-yankees-to-division-title-in-al-east-tiebreaker/ |access-date=2025-01-16 |language=en-US}}</ref>