Athletes - Derrek Lee

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Derrek Lee

	Athletes - Derrek Lee

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 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 turned down a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina to instead play baseball. He 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.

In 2003, Lee was traded to the Cubs for Hee Seop Choi. He hit .278 with 32 home runs and 98 RBI in 2004. 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. Early on, the team traded Sammy Sosa, who had previously been one of their best hitters. Lee showed early on that he could more than compensate for the loss; 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.

Awards

Gold Glove winner - 2003, 2005.
National League All-Star starting first baseman and leading NL vote getter - 2005.
National League Batting Champion - 2005.
Silver Slugger winner - 2005

Career statistics

Through the 2005 season, Lee has compiled the following career statistics:

Trivia

Derrek Lee is the son of Leon Lee, a former St. Louis Cardinals top prospect and Japanese Professional Baseball player for 10 years, and formerly the Cubs scout in the Pacific Rim. Leon Lee scouted and signed Hee Seop Choi, a Cubs prospect who was traded to the Florida Marlins with Mike Nannini in November 2003 for Derrek Lee.

Derrek Lee is the nephew of former Major League outfielder Leron Lee, who played 8 seasons with four different teams.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Derrek Lee ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Derrek Lee; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Derrek Lee

Awards

Career statistics

Trivia

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay