Leon Lee (born December 4, 1952) is an American 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-handed. Lee had a ten-year career in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB). At the conclusion of his playing career, he was considered one of the greatest foreign players to have played in the NPB. Later, he became the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

manager in Japanese baseball history. He is the father of former MLB player Derrek Lee and the brother of former MLB player Leron Lee. In fact, Leron and Leon played 3 seasons together as teammates on 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. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific League in as the Mainichi Ori ...

in Japan.

Career

American baseball career

Leon Lee was selected in the ninth round (198th overall) by 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

in the 1971

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

. He spent seven years in the Cardinals'

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

system without playing in a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) game.

Japanese baseball career

With the support of his older brother, former American Major League player Leron Lee, who was playing for the

, a

(NPB) team, Leon was able to make the move to Japan. Whiting, Robert. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), p. 27. 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 The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

, behind his brother's average. Lee was traded to the

Yokohama Taiyo Whales The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current n ...

, as the Orions were targeting to get closer Steve Shirley, where he played from 1983 to 1985. He finished his career in Japan with the

Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri G ...

from 1986 to 1987 before returning to the United States.

Scouting and managing

His past experience in Japan helped him become the

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The '' Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geological Pacific Ring of Fire. List ...

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

in 1998. After the 2002 MLB season, Lee left the Cubs and returned to Japan to serve as the

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

for the 2003 NPB season. The manager, Hiromichi Ishige, was fired in April, and Lee was promoted to manager, becoming the first

manager in Japanese baseball history. On May 17, 2003, the BlueWave faced the

Nippon Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Ho ...

, managed by Trey Hillman, for a battle between two American managers in Japan for the first time in 28 years. The Blue Waves were a good offensive team, but the pitching staff posted a 5.95 team ERA, and the team finished in last place with a 48–88–4 record. The club hired a Japanese manager for the next season and Lee was offered, but declined, the

position.

Brooklyn Cyclones

In February 2004, Lee was hired to manage the

Brooklyn Cyclones The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and play at Maimonides Park, just off the Coney Island ...

, a Class-A

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

minor-league affiliate. On April 8, he was arrested for

indecent exposure Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different ...

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. Although Lee pressed for a court date to clear his name, the charges were dropped in 2005.

Sacramento Stealth

In 2016, he became owner of the Sacramento Stealth of the new collegiate wood bat

Great West League Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

References

External links

English article on Leon Lee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Leon 1952 births Living people Baseball players from Bakersfield, California African-American baseball players African-American baseball managers African-American baseball coaches American expatriate baseball players in Japan Chicago Cubs scouts Lotte Orions players Yokohama Taiyō Whales players Yakult Swallows players Expatriate baseball managers in Japan Managers of baseball teams in Japan Orix BlueWave managers 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen