View source for Leron Lee

{{short description|American baseball player (born 1948)}}
{{BLP sources|date=June 2010}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
| name = Leron Lee
| image =1975 Cleveland Indians Postcards Leron Lee.jpg
| position = [[Outfielder]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|3|4}}
| birth_place = [[Bakersfield, California]], U.S.
| death_date =
| bats =Left
| throws = Right
| debutleague=MLB
| debutdate =September 5
| debutyear =1969
| debutteam =St. Louis Cardinals
| debut2league =NPB
| debut2date   = April 2
| debut2year   = 1977
| debut2team   = Lotte Orions
| finalleague=MLB
| finaldate =October 3
| finalyear =1976
| finalteam =Los Angeles Dodgers
| final2league=NPB
| final2date=October 20
| final2year=1987
| final2team=Lotte Orions
| statleague=MLB
| stat1label = [[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
| stat1value =.250
| stat2label=[[Home run]]s
| stat2value =31
| stat3label =[[Run batted in|Runs batted in]]
| stat3value =152
| stat2league  = NPB
| stat21label  = Batting average
| stat21value  = .320
| stat22label  = Home runs
| stat22value  = 283
| stat23label  = Runs batted in
| stat23value  = 912
| teams =
*[[St. Louis Cardinals]] ({{mlby|1969}}–{{mlby|1971}})
*[[San Diego Padres]] ({{mlby|1971}}–{{mlby|1973}})
*[[Cleveland Indians]] ({{mlby|1974}}–{{mlby|1975}})
*[[Los Angeles Dodgers]] ({{mlby|1975}}–{{mlby|1976}})
*[[Lotte Orions]] ({{by|1977}}–{{npby|1987}})
|highlights=
* 4× [[Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Game|NPB All-Star]] (1977, 1979–1981)
* 4× [[Best Nine Award]] (1977, 1980, 1984, 1985)
 }}
'''Leron Lee''' (born March 4, 1948) is an American former professional [[baseball]] [[left fielder]]. He played eight seasons with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], [[Los Angeles Dodgers]], [[Cleveland Indians]] and [[San Diego Padres]] of [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB). He then played eleven seasons in Japan's [[Nippon Professional Baseball]] for the [[Lotte Orions]], where he was a four-time [[Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Series|All-Star]] and a four-time [[Best Nine Award]]-winner.  His nephew [[Derrek Lee]] also played in the [[Major League Baseball|MLB]].

==Early life and United States baseball career ==

Lee, the oldest of six children, graduated from [[Grant Union High School (Sacramento, California)|Grant High School]] in [[Sacramento, California|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.<ref name="Hand">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5XIQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UYsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7266,7309673&dq=baseball+leron-lee&hl=en|title=Catcher No. 1 baseball selection|last=Hand|first=Jack|date=June 6, 1966|work=[[The Free Lance–Star]]|page=17|accessdate=June 7, 2010}}</ref> His first major league hit was off [[Jerry Robertson (baseball)|Jerry Robertson]] of the [[Montreal Expos]]. 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]].

On June 11, 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. On July 25, 1971, a home run off [[Bob_Johnson_(pitcher)|Bob Johnson]] led to a 2-1 win against Pittsburgh in the first game of a double-header. For the season, Leron batted .273. The following year, 1972, 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-hitter|no-hit]] bid by [[Tom Seaver]] of the [[New York Mets]]. Lee singled with one out in the ninth inning.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197207041.shtml 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 [[Lotte Orions]] 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]]s). [[Norichika Aoki]] overtook him upon returning from MLB. Lee led the league in [[home run]]s and [[run batted in|runs batted in]] in his first season, and won the batting title in 1980. In 1978, he invited younger brother [[Leon Lee]] (the father of former Major League Baseball player [[Derrek Lee]]) to play in Japan, and the brothers formed a feared cleanup for the Orions.<ref name=WhitingWa>[[Whiting, Robert]]. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), pp. 264–271.</ref>

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]] in 1989 when they won the [[World Series]]. Currently, he works with the [[Cincinnati Reds]] as an advising batting coach to scouted players.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Baseballstats|mlb=|espn=|br=l/leele02|fangraphs=1007458|brm=lee---001ler}}
{{1966 MLB Draft}}
{{St. Louis Cardinals first-round draft picks}}

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