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CHICAGO CUBS
AGE: 31
POSITION: First Base
BIRTHPLACE: Sacramento, CA
RESIDES: El Dorado Hills, CA
SCHOOL: El Camino (CA) High School
PERSONAL: Wife Christina, one daughter
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Last year, Derrick Lee was forced to confront a life-changing issue — his 3-year
old daughter Jada was diagnosed with Leber's Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a
rare, inherited retinal disease that results in the loss of vision. He immediately
founded "Project 3000" to fight LCA. In conjunction with Derrick's 1st Touch
Foundation, Project 3000 aims to eradicate LCA, a disease that affects an
estimated 3,000 people in the U.S. Spearheading the campaign to raise funds
for Project 3000, he set up a day at Wrigley Field to increase public knowledge
about LCA and selling red awareness bracelets. Project 3000 seeks to identify
every person in the country affected with LCA and offer them state-of-the-art
genetic testing. In addition to his efforts to fight LCA, Derrick has sponsored
RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities) teams. RBI is a youth outreach
program designed to increase participation and interest in baseball and
academics among inner-city youth. He hosts and helps fulfill the wishes of
numerous children through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As an active
advocate of Cubs Care, Derrick appears at all possible events, including the
annual 3-day "Cubs Convention," which raised more than $250,000 this year.
Since joining the Cubs in 2003, Derrick Lee has won the National League
batting title twice (2003, 2005), won two Gold Gloves at first base (2003,
2005) and named to the 2003 All-Star Team. He helped guide the Florida
Marlins to the 2003 World Championship.
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