The Orioles' family lost another member when Dave May lost his long battle against diabetes and cancer last Saturday, October 20th; he was 68 years old.
Dave played twelve seasons in the Major Leagues between 1967-78, and spent a majority of that time as a member of the Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers. He broke into the bigs with the Orioles in 1967 and became the 241st player to wear the O's uniform when he made his debut on July 28, 1967. He went on to play parts of the next four seasons for the O's before he was traded to the Brewers halfway through the 1970 season. Overall for the Birds, he played 223 games, mainly in right field, and hit just .216.
He had his best season in 1973 as a member of the Brewers and was selected to the American League All-Star team. He also lead the his league in total bases that year.
May later became known as the player who was traded for Hank Aaron when the Brewers and Braves accommodated the aging home run champion's request to finish his career in Milwaukee, where it had began. From what I understand, Dave struggled during his time in Atlanta to try to live up to the hype as the player who was traded for an all-time great.
After his retirement from baseball, he was elected to his native Delaware's Hall of Fame. Interestingly, he earned the nickname "Turnpike" during his time with the Orioles because he would commute from Delaware to Baltimore. His son, Derrick May, also played in the Major Leagues and was briefly a member of the Orioles during the 1999 season.
Rest in Peace, Dave.
To briefly explain the misspelled/made up title of these weekly posts: Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible."
