#480 Lee May

Hallmarks were power and strikeouts...With a large girth, overwhelmingly a 1^st baseman by trade and fielded position well...paired with Johnny Bench, Tony Perez,  and Pete Rose (and some early help from Vada Pinson and Alex Johnson) he was a piece of the run making  cog of the that would eventually become the Big Red Machine...home run totals incrementally increased 2 in a Sept call up 1966, 12 in first full season 1967, 22 in 1968, and his career second best mark of 38 in 1969......accompanying 1969 mark was a career best 110 RBI’s....his 34 HRs was eclipsed by the career seasons by Bench, Toland, and Perez in the first incarnation of the Big Red Machine of 1970....Lee’s career home run mark of 39 in 1971 is followed by a blockbuster trade to the Astros who were desperate for power and a Bonne fide cleanup hitter....Lee did not fail averaging 27 home runs over three seasons despite the Astrodome’s rep... As an Astro was named to his third all star team....Trade to Baltimore in 1975 introduced him to the designated hitting and a return to cleanup...best year as an Oriole was 1976 when had 25 homers, 109 RBIs....played in Baltimore though 1980....picked up via free agency as a deep reserve by the Royals for 1981 and 82....hit .301 for the club....Not to confused with Lee Maye, longtime outfielder for Braves, Astros, Senators...354 career home runs by a man who confessed to always want to hit a home run....Brother to Carols May who played in a different way....together they combined for 444 dingers, sixth on the all time brothers act list.