An enigma....not much is known…. exclusively a backup backstop…..talent summary: glove over bat…..came from a baseball family and took up catching when he high schools team was short in that position…..his fielding skill was kept him in the MLB…..got a new start in KC….Played enough to be considered the Royals main backstop closely followed by sometime outfielder Ed Kirkpatrick…..was crowded out as Kirkpatrick returned behind the plate in 1972….. Origins were with the Pirates….was given a shot at regular work after an impressive 1967…unfortunately his performance dovetailed in 1968 with .219 BA……relegated to being Manny Sanguillén’s back up from then on….as was the case in both KC and Pittsburgh a loss of playing eroded his batting average….hitting sank even further 1973, his last season….Released by KC, took a brief minor league assignment in the Pirate farm system and had a millisecond with the NY Mets….stayed out of baseball thereafter.....In 1996 May passed away as result of a farm accident.....A rotary brush cutter fell on him at his farm in Virginia. He had jacked up the machine to remove some wire that had gotten snarled in the blades, and the jack slipped…..reminiscent of Mark Fydrich’s death.… not much is known about May personal life other than he was married in 1963 and his game stats....one of six players with the last name May playing in 1971, joining Dave, Carlos, Lee, Milt, and Rudy.
Went back to my '71 blog to look him up. He was the catcher in the so-called "LSD no-hitter" thrown by Dock Ellis.
ReplyDeleteThey must have been quite a pair. Those Padres were pitiful at the plate in the early years.
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