As a first baseman, hitting home runs is what's expected of me. But I don't really try to hit home runs.

If they watch me play, people will say I'm not into it or whatever. That's okay. I kind of like it. People don't know how much work I'm putting into it. They don't need to know.

You just get better with age. You learn yourself and the league. I'm starting to understand more about hitting every year.

I miss basketball every now and then.

I want to be on that team that wins the world championship here in Chicago and sees the city go crazy.

If you write in the paper 'Lee stinks,' that's not going to affect me. I'll just laugh. And if you write 'Derrek Lee is the best player in the league,' that won't affect me either. I'll laugh.

I felt I was good in basketball but I wasn't a blue-chip prospect.