| Leon Lee | |
|---|---|
| First baseman | |
| Born: December 4, 1952 Bakersfield, California |
|
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| Professional debut | |
| 1978 for the Lotte Orions | |
| Last professional appearance | |
| 1987 for the Yakult Swallows | |
| NPB statistics | |
| Batting average | .308 |
| Hits | 1,436 |
| Runs batted in | 884 |
| Managerial statistics | |
| Wins | 41 |
| Losses | 76 |
| Ties | 3 |
| Teams | |
|
As player As manager |
|
Leon Lee (born December 4, 1952 in Bakersfield, California) is a former minor league baseball player and minor league manager. He played first base and third base during his career, batting and throwing right-handed.
He is the father of Pittsburgh Pirates player Derrek Lee.
Leon Lee was selected in the 9th round, 198th overall, by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1971 draft.[1] He spent seven straight years in Cardinals' minor league system without playing in a Major League Baseball (MLB) game. Lee then moved to Japan at the suggestion of his older brother, former American Major League player Leron Lee, who was playing for the Lotte Orions, a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team. Lee played five seasons alongside his older brother, hitting 41 home runs, 116 RBIs, with a .340 batting average in 1980. His batting average that year was the second highest in the Pacific League, behind his brother's average.[2]
Lee was traded to the Yokohama Taiyo Whales and played 1983-1985 until he was suddenly fired in 1985. He was re-hired by the Yakult Swallows, and played from 1986-1987 before returning to the United States. As a Swallows player, Lee befriended new NPB player Bob Horner in 1987.
His past experience in Japan then helped him become a Pacific Rim scout for the Chicago Cubs in 1998 where he signed two Korean players who would eventually play in (MLB)—Hee Seop Choi and Jae Kuk Ryu. Lee expressed interest in scouting Chinese players in 1999, but Cubs President Andy MacPhail deemed the idea too radical and denied his request.[3]
After the 2002 MLB season, Lee left the Cubs and returned to Japan to serve as the Orix BlueWave's hitting coach for the 2003 NPB season.[4] The manager, Hiromichi Ishige, was fired in April, and Lee was promoted to manager. On May 17, 2003, the BlueWave faced the Nippon Ham Fighters, managed by Trey Hillman, for a battle between two American managers in Japan for the first time in 28 years. His team was a good offensive team, but the pitching staff marked a horrid 5.95 team ERA, and ended up in last place with a 48-88-4 record. Lee left the club at the end of the season, declining an offer to serve as hitting coach. He was the first African-American manager in Japanese baseball history.
In February 2004, Lee was hired to manage the Brooklyn Cyclones, a Class-A New York Mets minor-league affiliate. However, he was arrested April 8 for indecent exposure in a hotel after seeking to quiet a noisy late-night crowd that was disturbing his team. While the charges were still pending, he was forced to resign before managing his first game.[5][6] The charges were later dropped unconditionally, as the "witnesses" recanted their stories, and prosecutors admitted that the alleged acts could not have occurred. It is thought that the false charges were racially motivated. Lee chose not to seek restitution out of consideration for the baseball community, and in order to devote his time to youth and international baseball development. He is currently engaged in these activities in Sacramento, California and Tucson, Arizona.
Lee also served as a consultant in the making of the 1992 film, Mr. Baseball. The film, starring Tom Selleck, detailed life in the Japanese professional baseball league from the point of view of an American player, based on older brother Leron Lee's experience in the country.
[[Category:Taiy
o Whales players]]