Michael Randall Lee (born May 19, 1941 in Bell, California) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who appeared in 13 games in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

) over two seasons for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

() and

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

(). He threw and batted

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

, stood tall and weighed . Lee attended East Los Angeles College and signed with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

in 1959. After winning only seven of 26 decisions for Class B

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

(with 160 strikeouts and 202 bases on balls in only 162 innings pitched), he was selected by Cleveland in the December 1959 first-year player draft. He then spent 1960 with the MLB Indians. Working in seven games, all in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

, he allowed only six hits and two

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

s in nine full innings pitched, with six strikeouts. However, he issued 11 bases on balls. In 1961, he began the year with the Indians' Class A

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

affiliate, but was traded to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

' organization in June. After only a year with Cardinal farm teams, however, Lee was released by the Redbirds in June 1963. He then signed with the Angels, returning him to his native

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. He was recalled from the minor leagues in August of 1963 and made six appearances as an Angel, four as a starting pitcher. He earned his two MLB decisions in his first two outings as an Angel starter. On August 17, at

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...

, facing the Detroit Tigers (and their starter, eventual Baseball Hall of Famer

Jim Bunning James Paul David Bunning (October 23, 1931 – May 26, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher and politician who represented Kentucky in both chambers of the United States Congress. He was the sole Major League Baseball athlete to ha ...

), he allowed only one run in his first three full innings, but faltered in the fourth, giving up a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

to Don Wert; he was charged with four runs allowed in 4 innings pitched and took the 6–1 loss. Thirteen days later, he went the mound against the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

at Municipal Stadium. This time, he permitted only two runs and six hits in six full innings and departed for a pinch hitter with the Angels holding a 3–2 lead. The Angels went on to win, 6–2, giving Lee what would be his lone MLB victory. In his final big-league appearance on September 22, 1963, he started against his original team, the Indians, at

Cleveland Stadium Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball a ...

and registered his most effective start, working six innings and allowing only one run on six hits. He left the game for a pinch hitter with the game tied, 1–1; the Indians went on to win in

extra innings Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

br>box score: 1963-09-22
/ref> Lee returned to the minor leagues in 1964 and was released by the Angels in June 1965, ending his professional career. In his 13 MLB games, he worked in 35 innings, allowing 36 hits and 25 bases on balls; he was credited with 35 strikeouts. He posted a 1–1 won–lost mark and a 3.34 career

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

References

External links

1941 births Living people Baseball players from Los Angeles County, California Billings Mustangs players Cleveland Indians players El Paso Sun Kings players Fresno Giants players Hawaii Islanders players Lancaster Red Roses players Los Angeles Angels players Major League Baseball pitchers Nashville Vols players Sportspeople from Bell, California Reading Indians players San Jose Bees players Tri-City Angels players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1940s-stub