Sacramento Bee/Anne Chadwick Williams

 

 

Marcos Bret?n: Champion Lee' has a humble ring to it

By Marcos Bret?n -- Bee Columnist

Published 2:15 a.m. PST Thursday, November 20, 2003

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For Derrek Lee, it has been quite a month and a half -- a blur, really.

There have been the highest of professional highs, the ultimate respect from peers and a clamoring for Lee's services. And there's a potential contract for next season that could exceed $7.5 million and a more lucrative free-agency deal one year from now.

 

Now we wonder how Lee -- of the world champion Florida Marlins, the recently minted Gold Glove first baseman, the subject of numerous trade rumors -- will handle his ascent to the top of his game.

 

 

 

 

It's a good question that loomed while driving to the exquisite home Lee shares with his wife, Christina, and baby daughter in the foothills overlooking Sacramento.

There you arrive to see a sleek sports car with Florida plates parked out front, a fabulous view of hills and lush trees -- and you're welcomed to a warm space where earth tones and fragrant candles evoke a soothing calm.

 

Once inside, you look out at the sparkling blue of a swimming pool and notice the absence of baseball paraphernalia and gaudy tributes to excess.

 

There's also the absence of arrogance as you ask Lee -- a 28-year-old former El Camino High School standout -- about running with joy on Yankee Stadium's hallowed ground.

 

So recently toiling before empty stadiums with the Marlins in Miami, Lee finished the year celebrating on the New York Yankees' field after a breakout season during which he hit .271 with 31 home runs and 92 RBIs.

 

Moreover, Lee is living a dream that has so far eluded OF #25, and men who never won a World Series such as the late Ted Williams and Hall of Famer Ernie Banks.

 

So you ask about the World Series ring that Lee will soon receive because all you ever hear from ballplayers these days is: "I want a ring. I gotta have a ring. I live for a ring."

 

But he isn't going to wear his; doesn't like jewelry.

 

"I'm going to put the ring someplace for safekeeping and just take it out every once in a while and look at it," Lee said.

 

Has this man not read the tacky athlete's rule book?

 

"I can't even describe what the last month has been like," Lee said. "I almost don't believe it. Getting off the plane in Miami after we won the World Series was ridiculous. People were banging on our windows, and the parade was awesome. It's true. I'm getting more recognition now, but I wouldn't say my life has changed."

 

Searching Lee's peaceful eyes for a hint of false modesty is fruitless because he means what he says.

 

He's as fluid off the field as he is on it, where -- at 6-foot-5 -- he moves fast while hardly appearing to sweat.

 

He has a knack for knowing where the ball will go and can field the trickiest of hops, skills that recently earned Lee the National League's Gold Glove for first basemen.

 

You could say it figured because Derrek is the son of Leon Lee -- a Sacramento-born ballplayer who starred in Japan -- and the nephew of former big-leaguer Leron Lee.

 

And you could say it figures when Derrek says: "Baseball is my job, but it doesn't define me. It doesn't make me feel superior to anyone else."

 

That comes from Leon and Pamela Fontaine-Lee, childhood sweethearts from two stalwart Del Paso Heights families and pillars of Sacramento's African American community.

 

The Lees and the Fontaines are like one family, really.

 

Pamela's father was a preacher, and Leon used to ride his bike and watch him give sermons.

 

Leon never reached the big leagues. In the late 1970s, he took his family to Japan, where his baseball career took off.

 

Young Derrek grew up there, attending international schools and traveling back and forth from Asia to Sacramento -- sometimes alone as a young boy.

 

In Japan, Derrek learned to function well in any situation. He learned the Asian respect for baseball, and he saw his dad treat people well -- even the media.

 

He also saw no need in asking for autographs or being caught up in idolatry.

 

"When money came into baseball, it kind of changed the clubhouse attitudes, and it turned me off," Leon said. "And I hoped that Derrek wouldn't become one of them."

 

It was very Zen -- and very Derrek Lee.

 

"I never had any goals or expectations for Derrek to play pro ball, and I guess a part of me didn't want that actually," Pamela said. "I just wanted him to be the best that he could be."

 

So the young man played ball because he loved it and because he could separate the game from the rest of his life.

 

Now when Harold Reynolds from ESPN calls to put Derrek on national TV, or Derrek hits a key double to lift the Marlins past the Chicago Cubs in the N.L. Championship Series, or Derrek embraces Ivan Rodr?guez after winning it all -- the guy allows himself joy and then goes home.

 

The Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers or even the Giants could trade for him at any minute, but it's no big deal.

 

His teammate Josh Beckett does Leno and Jim Rome, and where's Derrek Lee?

 

"I spend a lot of time just staring at (his 7-month-old) baby Jada," he said. "I just stare at her, and I can't believe we made this."

 

Yup. He's a player.

 

 

SacBee Link

great story, he's going to make a baseball team very happy

nice story, but the writer is a complete and utter hack. it's irritating when a writer tries to write "well" and it ends up looking like he/she tried too hard.

 

this writer tried way too hard.