Who is the man: Lee May was coming off his second straight 30-home run season (and the second of three straight) when this card was pulled from packs. Unfortunately, he was also dealing with the disappointment of the Reds losing to the Orioles in five games in the 1970 World Series. May hit the ball that made Brooks Robinson even more famous, as he made a tremendous play on May's liner in Game 1 and threw him out.
Can ya dig it: One of the odd action shots for which '71 Topps is known. May is not facing the camera and bordering on being on the fringes of the photo. Still a cool shot.
Right on: The Phillies player leading off first base is Ron Stone. Credit for figuring that out goes here.
You see this cat May is a bad mother: May drove in 100 runs in a season for three different teams, the Reds, Astros and Orioles. Only 10 other players have done that.
Shut your mouth: I totally associate May with being a Baltimore Oriole. He was on the downside of his career at that point and my memories of him are of a slow, hulking player (he was only 6-3) who had trouble fitting a helmet on his head. He deserves more credit than I gave him.
No one understand him but his woman: A number of baseball followers have said that May didn't get the attention that he deserved and that he could have made the Hall of Fame if he didn't play during the offensively depressed era of the 1960s and 1970s. Playing in the Astrodome hurt his numbers, too.
(A word about the back): Floating Head!!!!!
I had never heard of the Reds' version of "Murderers Row." I believe the other two people in the trifecta were Johnny Bench and Tony Perez.
Love Lee May - his 71 an 72 cards are 2 of my favorite - For me he was that big slugging star of the Reds when I first started following baseball - good for 25-90-.265 for about 10 years.
ReplyDeleteHe had a nice career
ReplyDeleteI like these odd photos. It breaks up the monotony of the stage photos you see so often.
ReplyDelete