American baseball career Leon Lee was selected in the ninth round (198th overall) by the
St. Louis Cardinals in the 1971
draft. He spent seven years in the Cardinals'
minor league system without playing in a
Major League Baseball (MLB) game.
Japanese baseball career With the support of his older brother, former American Major League player
Leron Lee, who was playing for the
Lotte Orions, a
Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team, Leon was able to make the move to Japan. 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, behind his brother's average. Lee was traded to the
Yokohama Taiyo Whales, 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 from 1986 to 1987 before returning to the United States.
Scouting and managing His past experience in Japan helped him become the
Pacific Rim scout for the
Chicago Cubs in 1998. After the
2002 MLB season, Lee left the Cubs and returned to Japan to serve as the
Orix BlueWave's
hitting coach for the
2003 NPB season. The manager,
Hiromichi Ishige, was fired in April, and Lee was promoted to manager, becoming the first
African-American manager in Japanese baseball history. On May 17, 2003, the BlueWave faced the
Nippon Ham Fighters, 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
hitting coach position.
Brooklyn Cyclones In February 2004, Lee was hired to manage the
Brooklyn Cyclones, a Class-A
New York Mets minor-league affiliate. On April 8, he was arrested for
indecent exposure 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. ==References==