DeWain Lee Stevens, better known as Lee Stevens, is a former MLB first baseman/DH from none other than Kansas City, Missouri. Stevens was drafted out of high school by the California Angels of California (at the time) in the 1986 MLB Draft. Stevens was called up to the show in 1990. He hit 7 homeruns and drove in 32, but hit an off-putting .214 batting average his rookie season. The next year he went back to the minors in Edmonton and hit 19 homeruns and batted .314. Stevens would go on to play for the Angels until 1993, then he got traded to the Montreal Expos for Jeff Tuss.
Stevens struggled, and was released by the Expos. Lee signed with the Rangers and would continue to struggle in the minors until he got his groove back in 1997. At age 29, Stevens hit 21 bombs and drove in 74 RBI’s and collaborated a .300 batting average (the only time he hit .300+ in his career). Stevens would go on to hit 5 consecutive seasons of 20+ homeruns with the Rangers, and later the Expos. (Seems a little fishy). Stevens got back on the Expos in 2000 when the Rangers shipped off Stevens to the Expos, which sent Brad Fullmer to the Blue Jays, and David Segui to the Rangers. Those 3 are some big dudes.
Lee’s power suddenly declined and the Expos shipped him off with Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and Brandon Phillips (whoever those guys are) for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew in 2002.
Lee would later get sent down to the minors and retire at the age of 34.
Lee ended up with a career stat line of 144 homeruns, 531 RBI’s (no seasons with 100+ RBI’s), 832 strikeouts, and a batting average of .254. And according to Baseball-reference.com Stevens made about $15,489,000, not too shabby.
-Schotz
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