RIP - Lee May

Lee May, the slugging 1st baseman for the Reds, Astros, and Orioles in the 1960s and 1970s, passed away on July 29, 2017 at age 74.




After getting his feet wet in '65 and '66, May began his fulltime major-league career with the Reds in 1967, soon taking over the starting 1st base job from veteran Deron Johnson, and was named to the Topps All-Rookie team that season. He also made the All-Star team in '69 and '71.

May missed out on the Big Red Machine era, as he was famously traded to the Astros after 1971 in a deal that saw the Reds acquire 2nd baseman Joe Morgan. Lee was the starting All-Star 1st baseman in 1972, his first of 3 seasons with the Astros.

He played the 2nd half of his 18-year career with the Orioles (1975-80) and Royals (1981-82). In all, he made 3 trips to the post-season ('70, '79, '81).

Birmingham, AL obituary

New York Times obituary
 

Shortest Player Names

A few days ago, I happened across a comment that I left on Night Owl’s 1971 Topps Mets Rookies post last year, where I wondered about how many players had one-syllable first and last names.

I checked through all the 1966-1970 baseball cards, and found just over 100 players, way more than I had expected. I started out with an idea to tile-post all their cards. As the list grew, that changed into just posting a list of the players.

Since it was over 100 names, I'm taking a different approach: Who has the shortest name? (I think 1980s' Pirates' catcher Ed Ott has that claim, but I’m just focusing on players from 1966-1970.)

I found eight people that could get the job done with SIX letters:

Actually, I’m going to disqualify Joey Jay, because nobody other than Topps ever referred to him as "Joe".

Extra credit to Gus Gil for the alliteration!



But wait! With only ONE additional letter, Eli Grba (GUR-ba) managed to squeeze in 2 more syllables.

Oh, Brother!

Here are some of the brothers who played ball in the 1960s.

The only 3-brother combo in the 1960s was Felipe, Matty, and Jesus Alou, who all came up with the Giants before scattering elsewhere. Jesus made his major-league debut in a September call-up in 1963, Felipe's last season in San Fran. With someone named Willie Mays on hand, chances for an all-Alou outfield were slim, but they managed to all play together one time.

Hank and Tommie Aaron hit more home runs than any other brother duo, with 768 (755 by Hank).

The Boyers cornered the 3rd base market in New York City in 1966. The brothers were 3rd base counterparts in the 1964 World Series, when Ken was with the Cardinals.

The Brothers Perry were star pitchers for their respective teams. Jim played primarily with the Indians and Twins, and won the AL Cy Young award in 1970, winning 24 games. Gaylord played 22 seasons, the first half of his career with the Giants, before bouncing around to a number of teams. He was a 5-time 20-game winner. The brothers were teammates on the 1974-75 Indians.

Phil and Joe Niekro were both knuckleballers, Phil played for 4 teams over 24 seasons (1964-87), the first 20 seasons with the Braves. Joe played for 7 teams over 22 seasons (1967-88). They were teammates on the 1973-74 Braves, and the 1985 Yankees.

Frank and Joe Torre both began their careers with the Milwaukee Braves, and although they were both on the big club for part of 1960, and in the Braves' farm system for some of the same years, they were never teammates.

Lee May played 18 seasons, with Cincinnati, Houston, Baltimore, and the KC Royals. Younger brother Carlos played primarily for the White Sox. They were never teammates.

Just kidding! For over 40 years, I thought these two were brothers, before one of you bloggers set me straight a few years ago.


Other brother combos in the 1960s were Tony and Billy Conigliaro,  Dick and Hank Allen, Dick and Larry Brown, and Billy and Bobby Klaus.
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