Derrek Lee

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Derrek Lee

Chicago Cubs — No. 25
First base
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
April 28, 1997 for the San Diego Padres
Selected MLB statistics
(through 2006 season)
Batting average     .276
Home runs     216
Runs batted in     656
Teams


    Derrek Leon Lee (born September 6, 1975 in Sacramento, California) is a first baseman in Major League Baseball who plays for the Chicago Cubs since 2004. From 1997 through 2003, Lee has played with the San Diego Padres (1997) and Florida Marlins (1998-2003). He bats and throws right-handed.

    After he graduated from El Camino (CA) High School in 1993, Lee was drafted in the first round (14th overall) of the 1994 Major League Baseball draft by the San Diego Padres, and made his major league debut on April 28, 1997. Traded to the Florida Marlins a year later, Lee was a member of the 2003 World Series Marlins championship team.

    Lee was traded to the Cubs for Hee Seop Choi. He hit .278 with 32 home runs and 98 RBI in his first year with the Cubs. In 2005, Lee had a career first half of the season, with an MLB-leading .376 batting average, 72 RBI, and a tie for the major league lead in home runs, 27.

    While always being a very good player, things exploded for Lee in 2005. The Cubs had traded superstar Sammy Sosa, who had previously been one of their best hitters. Lee showed early on that he could more than compensate for the loss, and while Sosa had a disappointing 2005 season with the Baltimore Orioles, Lee had a career year. By midseason, he was among MLB's leaders in each of the triple crown categories: batting average, home runs, and RBI. Late in the season, Lee still managed to produce despite the loss of Cubs slugger Aramis Ramirez. His .335 batting average was the highest by a Cub since Bill Madlock's .339 in 1976 and made him the first Cub to win a batting title since Bill Buckner (1980). His hunt for the Most Valuable Player Award may have been hampered by poor performance by the hitters in front of him for the better part of the season, as his RBI total was less than that of Andruw Jones. The Atlanta Braves outfielder also led the NL in home runs, with 51 to Lee's 46. Lee was named to the U.S. roster for the 2006 World Baseball Classic, where he was the first player to hit a home run for Team USA in the WBC.

    On April 10, 2006, Derrek Lee signed a 5-year, $65 million extension with the Chicago Cubs. The deal replaces his contract for the 2006 season and extends him as the Cubs' first baseman through the 2010 season and includes a no-trade clause. Unfortunately, he broke his wrist less than two weeks later, in a collison involving baserunner Rafael Furcal, and he missed 59 games due to the injury. The Cubs posted a 19-40 record during Lee's stint on the disabled list. Later, Lee went back on the DL with a post-traumatic inflammation in the outer bone of the medial side of the wrist.

    In September 2006 Derrek Lee's daughter, Jada, 3 was diagnosed with Leber's congenital amaurosis, a rare genetic disease resulting in loss of vision. Lee has started a foundation with the owner of the Boston Celtics to fight the disease.


    Contents

    [edit] Awards

    [edit] Career statistics

    Through the 2006 season, Lee has compiled the following career statistics:

    G AB AVG OBP SLG 2B 3B HR RBI R BB SO SB FLD
    1235 4258 .276 .363 .500 260 22 216 656 671 550 1036 86 .994

    [edit] Trivia

    • Derrek Lee is the son of Leon Lee. Leon Lee never played in American Major Leagues. Today, he is a scout for Major League Baseball and, coincidentally, he was the scout who "found" Hee-Seop Choi who was later traded for his son.
    • Derrek Lee is the nephew of former Major League outfielder Leron Lee, who played 8 seasons with the Cardinals, Dodgers, Indians and Padres respectively and to this day holds Japan's highest batting average for both Japanese and foreign players. His World Series Ring is from the 1989 Oakland A's game, the year of the infamous earthquake. Currently, he works with Cincinnati Reds as an advising batting coach to scouted players.

    [edit] External links

    Preceded by
    Barry Bonds    		 National League Batting Champion
    2005    		 Succeeded by
    Freddy Sánchez
    Preceded by
    Todd Helton    		 NL First Base Gold Glove Winner
    2003    		 Succeeded by
    Todd Helton
    Preceded by
    Adrián Beltré    		 National League Player of the Month
    September, 2005    		 Succeeded by
    Bobby Abreu
    Preceded by
    Todd Helton    		 NL First Base Gold Glove Winner
    2005    		 Succeeded by
    Albert Pujols
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/e/r/Derrek_Lee_8007.html"
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