Wednesday, August 13, 2014

no. 318 - rudy may


Who is the man: Rudy May finished his third year with the Angels in 1970, ending with a 7-13 mark and a 4.01 ERA. He was in the middle of a four-year stretch when he was a regular starter with California.

Can ya dig it: This is the second of five classic Angels action cards in the set. The first was way back at card No. 78. The others will show up rapidly now.

Right on: I love the placement of May's very excellent autograph. So random, so unexpected.

You see this cat May is a bad mother: In his first big-league start on April 18, 1965, May pitched a nine-inning one-hitter for the Angels against the Tigers ... and the Angels lost the game. The game went into extra innings tied at 1-1. May was replaced for the 10th inning, and the Tigers would go on to score three runs in the 13th against two relievers.

Shut your mouth: During May's first spring training in Florida, he was in a segregated clubhouse, but he didn't know it was segregated for the first week. A fellow black player had to tell him, "why are you drinking out of the fountain? You're not supposed to do that, there's a bucket in the back for us to drink out of."

No one understands him but his woman: May's wife, Eleanor, was a female member of the Los Angeles soul group, the Superbs. When she married May, she left the group.


(A word about the back): I'd be impressed about striking out 23 batters in a Legion game, but I'm too distracted by the arbitrary abbreviation of League when there was plenty of space to spell it out.

1 comment:

  1. The action shots from this year are great! But my Rudy May card isn't in such good condition.

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