Travis Lee. A name that is engraved deep in the heart of Diamondbacks lore - somewhere I still have his rookie card. For Lee gave the team the first hit, run, RBI and homer in major-league franchise history, back before a packed Bank One Ballpark in March 1998. But he was also the team's first major disappointment, never living up to the record $10 million signing bonus received after he signed with Arizona in 1996. In 2 1/2 seasons with the club, he notched only 0.2 bWAR, hitting .252 with an 89 OPS+. and was a minor component in the deal that sent Curt Schilling from Philadelphia to the desert.
He had a bit more success there, and did quite well in Tampa, giving them 3.7 bWAR over three seasons. But he abruptly quit the game in spring 2007, at the relatively young age of 31, despite having received an invitation to spring training from the Washington Nationals. He has largely stayed out of the limelight since, but was back in Arizona recently, to take part in the first Diamondbacks Alumni Game at Chase Field. Fox Sports Arizona's Todd Walsh sat down with Lee and asked him about his time with the Diamondbacks, and what transpired subsequently in the career of our first first-baseman.