Lee May
From BR Bullpen
Lee Andrew May
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 3", Weight 205 lb.
- Debut September 1, 1965
- Final Game September 24, 1982
- Born March 23, 1943 in Birmingham, AL USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Lee May hit 354 home runs and was a three-time All-Star who played on two World Series teams in the 1970s. Had he played at any other time than in the dead-ball era of the 1960's and 1970's, it's possible he might have made the Hall of Fame.
May, born in Birmingham, AL, in 1943, was signed as a free agent in 1961. He played six years in the minors. At Tampa, in the Single A Florida State League, he hit no homers his first season, but thereafter his home run totals climbed each year, with 10 for Tampa in 1962, 18 for Rocky Mount in 1963, 25 for Macon in 1964, and 34 for San Diego in Triple A in 1965.
He had a cup of coffee with the Cincinnati Reds in 1965. Back in Triple A with Buffalo in 1966, he hit only 16 home runs, but he came up to the majors to stay. In 25 games with Cincinnati, he hit .333 with 5 doubles and a couple home runs.
1967 was the first of five seasons where he was a regular on the Reds. In retrospect, it's amazing that he was able to win a job at all, since Tony Perez had been the first baseman in 1965, and Deron Johnson (who had led the league in RBI in 1965) the first baseman in 1966. In 1967, Perez was at third base, while Johnson and May shared the first base job, with each appearing there in 81 games. Johnson was traded after the season.
May's home run power went up each year, until in 1969 he hit 38 home runs with 110 RBI. His batting average of .278 was only one point above the team average of .277, but his slugging percentage of .529 was over a hundred points over the team percentage of .422. Perez hit 37 home runs that year, and Pete Rose led the league with a .348 batting percentage.
After hitting 34 home runs in 1970, May hit .389 in the 1970 World Series. He slugged .833. May batted fifth in the lineup, generally behind Pete Rose, Bobby Tolan, Tony Perez in the third spot, and Johnny Bench at cleanup.
May almost duplicated his 1969 season in 1971. That year, he again hit .278, and his .532 slugging percentage was very close to the .529 from 1969. Instead of 38 home runs, he hit 39. Even his on-base percentage was only one point off between 1971 and 1969.
May was 28, and seemed to be headed toward the Hall of Fame. Although he hadn't led the league in anything, he was an All Star in 1969 and 1971, and he had been among the league leaders in various categories from 1968-1971. He already had hit 147 home runs, with only 5 full seasons under his belt.
Then he was traded to the Houston Astros in the Joe Morgan trade. Houston played in a pitcher's park, the Astrodome, which was not at all favorable to Lee. Whereas he had hit at least 34 home runs in each of his last three seasons in Cincinnati, when he came to Houston for three seasons, his highest season was 29. Still, Lee was the big power hitter on the Astros during the first two seasons, as the Astros declined from a contending team to a middling one. In the third season, 1974, he was second on the team in home runs behind Cesar Cedeno. He was named to the All-Star team in 1972, his first season on the Astros.
After three seasons in Houston, May was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in the Enos Cabell deal. He was to stay six years with the Orioles, as he aged from 32 to 37 years old. He always hit around .250 during those years, and his home runs ranged between 19 and 27 per year in the first five years. His teammates included Brooks Robinson and Eddie Murray. He appeared in the 1979 World Series, getting one at-bat, as by then he was the team's designated hitter, with Murray playing first, and that Series did not use the DH. His job on the Orioles was to drive in runs, and that he did well, even leading the American League with 109 RBI in 1976.
He finished out his career with the Kansas City Royals, hitting .291 in limited action in 1981, and .308 in limited action in 1982. He then became a coach and won a World Series as a coach for the 1985 Royals.
May's 354 home runs currently put him on the all-time list behind Yogi Berra, who hit 358, Johnny Mize at 359, and Joe DiMaggio at 361. Ralph Kiner is at 369, and May's old teammate Tony Perez is at 379. However, his other statistics are not in the Hall of Fame range. His 1244 RBI are not in the top 100 of all time, and place him below Gil Hodges, who is also not in the Hall.
It is not a surprise that the most similar players to Lee May, using the similarity scores method, are sluggers such as Tino Martinez, Boog Powell, George Foster, Joe Adcock, Willie Horton, George Scott and Gil Hodges.
He was sometimes called the "Big Bopper". He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in July 2006. He is the brother of Carlos May and the father of Lee May Jr.
- First Baseball Card appearance 1966 Topps
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 1967 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
- 3-time NL All-Star (1969, 1971 & 1972)
- AL RBI Leader (1976)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 11 (1968-1978)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 3 (1969-1971)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 3 (1969, 1973 & 1976)
