Rant #1,951: Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)

A lot of interesting people are leaving the earth around this time of year, and after yesterday's Patti Deutsch obit, here is another one, of one of the greatest baseball sluggers of his time who is all but forgotten today.

Lee May, one of the few baseball players to have driven in over 100 runs in a season for three different teams, recently passed away at age 74.

May, whose was from Birmingham, Ala., and was the brother Carlos also played in the major leagues, was known as "The Big Bopper" because he was an offensive force in the major leagues during his MLB career, which began in 1965 with the Cincinnati Reds and ended in 1982 with the Kansas City Royals in 1982. He also played for the Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles.

For 11 straight seasons, he hit at least 20 home runs and knocked in at least 80 runs, leading the American League in RBIs during 1976. The slugging first baseman played in three All-Star games.

In the 1970 World Series, May hit .389 with two homers and eight RBIs, but his Reds lost to the Orioles 4-1 in that contest.

All told, May hit 354 homers and had1,244 RBIs during his career, was a lifetime .267 hitter, and he is a member of both the Reds and Orioles' Halls of Fame.

May is often confused with another MLB player, Lee Maye, whose career paralleled his own, at least in the time that they both played. Maye, who mainly played with the old Milwaukee Braves during a solid 13-year career, died in 2002.

The ballplayer also has a place in pop history. On the TV show "Cheers," barkeep Sam Malone, himself a former major league baseball player, said in at least one episode that May hit one of his pitches for a home run that left Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium.

Fictitious, yes, but May probably could have done such a feat, and in real life, he hit many balls at least into the seats at the old stadium.

Although pretty much forgotten today, May certainly set the tone for the current tone of MLB, where home run hitters are valued commodities, no matter what their average is or how they play in the field, if they even do that, with the designated hitter in the American League.

May--whose son and grandson played in the minor leagues--passed away on July 29.