Leron Lee (born March 4, 1948) is an American former professional

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering sys ...

. He played eight seasons with 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 ...

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

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) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

and

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

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 (A ...

(MLB). He then played eleven seasons in Japan's

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

for the

Lotte Orions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

, where he was a four-time All-Star and a four-time

Best Nine Award The Best Nine Award is awarded annually to the best player at each position in both the Central League and Pacific League of Japanese professional baseball as determined by a pool of journalists. History While the Best Nine Award was first present ...

-winner. His nephew

Derrek Lee Derrek Leon Lee (born September 6, 1975), nicknamed "D-Lee", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Lee played with the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates ...

also played in the

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), ...

Early life and United States baseball career

Lee, the oldest of six children, graduated from Grant High School in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

with 36 football scholarship offers from major four-year universities. Instead, he began his professional career at 18 as the number one draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in September 1969 after an excellent season at Tulsa where he batted .303. His first major league hit was off Jerry Robertson of the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in ...

. In 1970 he had ten multi-hit games, including two games with three hits, a tie breaking home run against the Dodgers and his first major league home run off future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins. In June 1971, after three seasons with the Cardinals, Leron was traded to the San Diego Padres where he had nineteen multi-hit games, including one memorable game against Cincinnati where he had three hits, including two doubles. A home run off Cito Gaston led to a 1972 2-1 win against Pittsburgh, the same year Leron batted .300 with an amazing thirty four multi- hit games, including six three-hit games. On July 4, 1972, Lee broke up a no-hit bid by

Tom Seaver George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cinc ...

of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

. Lee singled with one out in the ninth inning.July 4, 1972 San Diego Padres at New York Mets Play by Play and Box Score – Baseball-Reference
/ref> Once again, after three seasons with the Padres, Leron was purchased by the Cleveland Indians where he had thirteen multi-hit games. In a game against the Royals he hit a home run then a grand slam to drive in all five runs for a 5-2 victory. After signing with the Dodgers as a free agent, he remained for two seasons before ending his major league career to pursue a baseball career in Japan.

Japanese baseball career

Following his major league career, he played for the

in Japan from 1977 to 1987. From his retirement to early 2018, he held the Japanese record for career batting average (players with more than 4,000

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s).

Norichika Aoki is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Toro ...

overtook him upon returning from MLB. Lee led the league in

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 ...

s and

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the b ...

in his first season, and won the batting title in 1980. In 1978, he invited younger brother

Leon Lee Leon Lee (born December 4, 1952, in Sacramento, California) is a former professional baseball player and manager, primarily known for his career in Japan. He played first base, third base, and catcher during his career, batting and throwing right- ...

(the father of former Major League Baseball player

) to play in Japan, and the brothers formed a feared cleanup for the Orions.

Whiting, Robert Robert Whiting (born October 24, 1942) is a best-selling author and journalist who has written several books on contemporary Japanese culture - which include topics such as baseball and American gangsters operating in Japan. He was born in New Jer ...

. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), pp. 264–271. Before the arrival of Lee, foreign players mostly played in Japan when their careers were winding down. Lee revolutionized the Japanese view of foreign players by playing in Japan during his prime, raising the standard for all foreign players thereafter.

Coaching career

After retiring from Japanese baseball, he went on to become the batting coach for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

in 1989 when they won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

. Currently, he works with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

as an advising batting coach to scouted players.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Leron 1948 births Living people Arkansas Travelers players African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Japan American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from Bakersfield, California Cleveland Indians players Florida Instructional League Cardinals players Los Angeles Dodgers players Lotte Orions players Major League Baseball left fielders Modesto Reds players Nippon Professional Baseball designated hitters Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen San Diego Padres players St. Louis Cardinals players Sultanes de Monterrey players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople