DeWain Lee Stevens (born July 10, 1967) is a former first baseman and designated hitter drafted by the California Angels out of Lawrence High School (Kansas) in the first round of the 1986 amateur draft in Major League Baseball who played from 1990 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002 for the California Angels, Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, and Cleveland Indians.
A highly regarded prospect, Stevens batted .314 with 19 home runs for the Edmonton Trappers in 1991. The Angels considered him heir apparent to popular but light-hitting first baseman Wally Joyner. However, in parts of three seasons he hit just .225 with little power.
After a three-year absence from the majors, including an American Association MVP season in 1996 where he hit 32 home runs, Stevens resurfaced with the Texas Rangers with more success. He batted .300 for the 1997 Rangers, and had five consecutive 20 home run seasons with the Rangers and Expos.
Stevens also played two seasons for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in Japan (1993-1994).
To this day, the trees behind the outfield fence at Ice Field at Lawrence High School are called "Lee's Trees".
Famous quotes containing the words lee and/or stevens:
“When that kid looks into your eyes and you know it’s yours, you know what it means to be alive.”
—Anonymous Father. Quoted in When Men are Pregnant, by Jerrold Lee Shapiro, ch. 15 (1987)
“The winter is made and you have to bear it,
The winter web, the winter woven, wind and wind,
For all the thoughts of summer that go with it
In the mind, pupa of straw, moppet of rags....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)