If you follow Major League Baseball, you know that Chicago Cubs all-star Derrek Lee is having a Triple Crown season. At the end of play Friday, Derrek’d hit 44 homers, driven in 104 runs and was batting .341. But did you know he has a strong connection to the Coeur d’Alene area, too? His mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law live in Hayden: Jim and Linda Deffenbaugh. Jim’s the executive director of the Panhandle Area Council, who, according to Huckleberries sources, has put up pretty good numbers this year, too. Jim is credited with 44 saves, although he’s not a typical baseball closer. That’s the number of Empire Airlines jobs that might have been lost locally if Jim hadn’t helped the airlines work out a snag involving a maintenance building. Another 18 jobs were added to the Coeur d’Alene Air Terminal as a result of that deal. Jim has a fun photo of his 90-year-old father wearing Derrek’s Cubs jersey and playing ball with 2-year-old Jada Lee in Derrek and Christina’s Chicago apartment. All’s well unless someone mentions fan interference in that 2004 playoff game.

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