I told Bill he could keep playing baseball, and that was music to his ears.
Hannah I. Chaudry, MD, DHMC interventional cardiologist who fixed Bill Lee's complicated artery blockageBaseball fans who come out for Friday’s New Hampshire Fisher Cats home game against the Erie Sea Wolves are in for an extra special treat. Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Bill “Spaceman” Lee will throw out the first pitch as the guest of honor for Dartmouth Health’s seventh annual Love Your Heart Night, promoting cardiovascular health.
Lee, who played for the Sox from 1969 to 1978, was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the team’s record-holder for most games pitched by a left-hander and the third highest win total by a Red Sox southpaw. A legend for his signature “Leephus pitch” and free spirit, the “Spaceman” continues to play for the Savannah Bananas expo team at the age of 77.
In 2022 and 2023, Lee suffered a series of major cardiovascular events while playing with the Bananas, including one incident where his heart stopped and he technically died before being revived by EMTs. Lee had a complicated heart artery blockage, and cardiologists at multiple medical centers declined to take his case—until he came to the Heart and Vascular Center at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where interventional cardiologist Hannah I. Chaudry, MD, successfully opened the blockage and deployed a stent.
“I told Bill he could keep playing baseball, and that was music to his ears,” said Chaudry, who will join Lee on the mound for the first pitch. “Any time I am able to give a patient a new lease on life, that’s a privilege I don’t take for granted—but knowing how much Bill means to generations of baseball fans around the world, from his days with the Red Sox to now with the Savannah Bananas—it’s especially meaningful to play a role in allowing him to continue doing what he loves, and bringing so much joy to so many people in the process.”
Lee will be available for interviews at the game, which must be scheduled by Media Relations Specialist Cassidy Smith. Contact Smith at cassidy.m.smith@hitchcock.org or 401-743-7199.
Attendees are asked to wear red to Love Your Heart Night, which begins at 6:35 pm at the Delta Dental Stadium, 1 Line Drive, Manchester, NH. Tickets can be purchased online at nhfishercats.com or by calling 603-641-2005.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.