Lee, the oldest of six children, graduated from
Grant High School in
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. 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 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-hit bid by
Tom Seaver of the
New York Mets. Lee singled with one out in the ninth inning. 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 ==