#CardCorner: 1968 Topps Lee May

In 1969, May was even better – totaling 38 homers with 110 RBI while earning his first All-Star Game selection. The Reds finished 89-73, but Bristol was replaced with Sparky Anderson following the season.

It would mark the start of the Big Red Machine era – and May would play a part both on and off the field.

On June 24, 1970, May’s eighth-inning homer off future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal gave the Reds a 5-4 win over the Giants in the last game played at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field – and May caught the last out of that game following a ground ball to pitcher Wayne Granger. Six days later, the Reds moved into Riverfront Stadium.

“My gosh, I forgot what I was doing. No, I don’t have that ball,” May told the Dayton Daily News following the game. “I flipped it to a little kid who sits near our dugout.”

May, however, would always remember Crosley Field for one reason: “Short fences,” he told the Daily News.

But May’s power was so prodigious that it didn’t matter where he played. In the games prior to the Reds moving the Riverfront Stadium in 1970, May had 19 homers and 42 RBI. After the move, he had 15 homers and 52 RBI – finishing the season with 34 homers and 94 runs batted in as the Reds won 102 games and the NL West title.

After sweeping the Pirates in the NLCS, the Reds faced Robinson and the Orioles in the World Series. May hit .389 with two homers and eight RBI in the Orioles’ five-game victory, leading the team in hits, runs, homers and RBI.

“It was,” May told the Evening Sun, “a glorious time.”

His three-run home run in the top of the eighth of Game 4 turned a 5-3 Baltimore lead into a 6-5 Reds win in Cincinnati’s only victory of the Fall Classic.

“You think he didn’t kiss that ball?” Anderson asked rhetorically in the Cincinnati Enquirer. “You knew that was gone.”

In 1971, May hit 39 homers – matching his third-place finish in the NL from 1969 – and drove in 98 runs to earn the Reds team Most Valuable Player Award. But Cincinnati finished a disappointing 79-83, and general manager Bob Howsam decided a major overhaul was in order.

On Nov. 29, 1971, Howsam rocked the Winter Meetings by sending May, Tommy Helms and Jimmy Stewart to the Astros in exchange for Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, César Gerónimo, Denis Menke and Joe Morgan. The trade would pay dividends for the Reds for years, as Gerónimo and Morgan – who was on his way to the Hall of Fame – improved Cincinnati’s defense and Billingham stabilized the rotation.

It also made way for Pérez to return to his natural position of first base, where he would become one of the best clutch hitters of his generation.

“We feel we have enough power to win,” Howsam told the Enquirer. “May had his greatest year last year and we still finished fourth.”

For his part, May seemed unsurprised with the trade. For several weeks, his named had swirled in rumors – especially after Howsam asked May to stop playing basketball in the offseason.

Reds outfielder Bobby Tolan suffered a serious Achilles tendon injury while playing basketball prior to the 1971 campaign, costing him the entire year.

“I’m pretty sure it was,” May told the Dayton Daily News about basketball as being a factor in the trade. “I think they wanted to get rid of me last year, even though they denied it. But I still hate to go. My wife and kids fell in love with Cincinnati. We put down roots here. But that’s the way things go.”

For their part, the Astros were thrilled to welcome May’s bat to their lineup. May led Houston with 29 home runs and 98 RBI in 1972 – pushing an Astros team featuring young stars like César Cedeño, Bob Watson and Jim Wynn to 84 wins.

May had another strong season in 1973, hitting 28 home runs and driving in 105 runs, but Houston finished 82-80. The next year, May provided his customary 24 homers and 85 RBI while the Astros finished 81-81.

Looking to get younger, Houston traded May and Jay Schlueter to the Orioles on Dec. 3, 1974, receiving prospects Rob Andrews and Enos Cabell in return.

In three seasons playing in the cavernous Astrodome, May averaged 27 homers and 96 RBI.

Orioles general manager Frank Cashen summed up the trade in two words. “More hitters,” Cashen told the Evening Sun.

May was thrilled with the trade, which sent him to a team that had won five of the last six American League East titles.

“I’m glad to be joining a contender,” May told the Evening Sun. “I’d rather leave (Houston) than be kept when I’m really not wanted.”

The Orioles installed May at first base and he hit 20 homers and totaled 99 RBI, but Baltimore slipped to second place in the AL East. In 1976, May hit 25 home runs and posted an AL-best 109 RBI, but once again Baltimore finished second.

Then in 1977, the Orioles debuted future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, who won the AL Rookie of the Year Award with 27 homers and 88 RBI. Murray, a first baseman, played 111 games at DH while May – serving as the regular first baseman – hit 27 home runs and drove in 99 runs. But with May already 34 years of age and Murray only 21, the future was clearly in favor of Murray.

But even once he transitioned into a DH role, May continued to take grounders at first base in pregame nearly every day.

“Nobody ever had to tell him to do anything,” Orioles manager Earl Weaver told the Evening Sun, “and there’s nothing better for a manager than to have a veteran like that.”

In 1978, May appeared in 148 games – 140 as a DH. He finished with 25 homers and 80 RBI. The next season, the Orioles returned to the top of the division for the first time in five years and rolled into the World Series. But at that time, the use of the DH alternated years in the Fall Classic – and 1979 was a “National League” year. That meant May, who had 19 homers and 69 RBI as Baltimore’s primary DH – was relegated to two at-bats in the World Series.

“Lee May,” Weaver told the Associated Press prior to the World Series, “was a big part of our offense. What effect it has will depend on the other eight guys in the lineup.”

Baltimore lost to Pittsburgh in seven games.