Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 25: Derrek Lee

Are you a fan of Miami Marlins corner infielders with lots of pop and World Series champions?

If you are, then boy is No. 25 of Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number Series the stop for you. Emotionally, this was a tough one, with plenty of massively impactful players to choose from. Yet it was also a little shocking how little love the Marlins WAR gods apparently showed to the clear recipient of the top spot honors here.

That'd be 2003 NL Gold Glove winner and 2003 World Series champion Derrek Lee, the best first baseman in franchise history.

Lee should need no introduction, with six seasons in a Marlins uniform under his belt, the last four of which he averaged 158 games played. Lee was actually acquired in a trade with the Padres for another Marlins legend in Kevin Brown, a deal that worked out pretty well for both sides. Brown helped the Padres reach the World Series in 1998, Lee was key to Miami winning it all six seasons later. He was an absolute iron man, and one of the best defenders in the sport in a way the Marlins haven't come remotely close to realizing since his departure. Lee's 129 home runs with the Fish ranks sixth all time, ahead of both Gary Sheffield and Jeff Conine. An inexplicably terrible 1999 season where he only played 70 games drags his Marlins career numbers down almost a full WAR point, but it's still more than shocking he's not higher than 15th on the all-time WAR list for position players.

As for the others on this best in the No. 25 jersey for the Miami Marlins list? How about fellow Marlins World Series champions Bobby Bonilla and Al Leiter for starters. Bonilla clubbed 17 HRs for the 1997 World Champs, and delivered a clutch home run in Game 7 to get the Marlins on the board. Leiter pitched well enough in that same game, but stands out more in Marlins memory for a 1996 season that was one of the ten best by a pitcher in club history, including the franchise's first no-hitter.

Other notables include a player that probably should have made the Hall of Fame last month in Carlos Delgado, who while a terrible defender at first base, did deliver one of the best offensive seasons the Marlins have ever seen in 2005 with a 33 HR, 115 RBI effort backed by a .301/.399/.582 slash line. He actually finished sixth in the NL MVP voting that year, one spot behind teammate Miguel Cabrera. He'd be the clear winner for the technical answer award, though his 44.4 career WAR does only edge out Leiter's by a surprising 4.4 points. If only Delgado had gone back to the American League after his year in South Florida.

If the Best To Wear The Marlins Jersey honors was based on one sweet, sweet month, Hee Seop Choi would have a strong claim. Acquired from the Cubs for Derrek Lee in an inexcusable cost cutting move after winning the 2003 World Series championship, Choi had one of the best Aprils ever for the Marlins...and then regressed so poorly that Miami traded him at that deadline, and spent the money they should have spent on Lee on Delgado the following season. Todd Zeile spent all of two months in Miami after coming over in the Mike Piazza trade, replacing fellow No. 25 wearer Bobby Bonilla. Yet he hit .291 with 6 HRs and 39 RBI during that time before being flipped to the Rangers for no one that ever did anything of consequence in the majors.

A couple other honorable mentions you might have heard of, Marlins fans. Andrew Heaney, the club's 2012 first round pick, wore the number during his one season with Miami in 2014. Lewis Brinson also spent a fair amount of time in it, wearing the number from 2020-2021. Unfortunately, neither was ever a threat to Lee for the award here.

As you can see, when you take the full measure of the Miami Marlins career, this wasn't a hard choice when all was said and done. When it comes to best Marlins hitters ever, the field is admittedly stacked.

However, when it comes to best player at their position in Marlins history? It becomes an extremely short list of Marlins players that would be a more automatic answer than Derrek Lee.