Up
on the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1977 card for former
outfielder Leron Lee, who wrapped up an eight-year Major League career
in 1976 before heading for greater glory in Japan:
Lee appeared in 23 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1976, hitting
.133 with six hits over 45 at-bats with a run scored and two runs batted
in.
He originally came up in 1969 with the St. Louis Cardinals and never
really got a full season in the Big Leagues, the most action being 121
games in 1970 with only 294 plate appearances.
After spending half of 1976 playing in the Mexican League, he’d take his
lumber to the Far East where he ended up playing 11 seasons for Lotte
in the Japanese League, hitting 283 home runs and driving in almost 1000
runs while hitting a very nice .320.
For his MLB career, Lee ended up with a career .250 batting average,
with 31 homers and 152 RBIs over 614 games and 1617 at-bats, scoring 173
runs and collecting 404 hits.
He would play 22 years of professional ball, hitting 366 homers and
driving in 1301 runs with 2424 hits in 2362 games between 1966 through
1987.
Quite the pro career.