1933 Durham Bulls
Background- Merrill May was originally a Yankees farmhand after graduating from Indiana University. At some point in the lower Minors he picked up the nickname "Pinky", but he still has a few baseball cards that refer to him as Merrill. He played for the Durham Bulls in 1933, who were a Yankees affiliate for just that season, and hit .309 with 3 home runs, and 31 doubles. The Phillies picked him up in the Rule 5 Draft at the end of the 1938 season. May was the Phillies starting third baseman from 1939 until 1943. He was best known for his strong defense at the hot corner, and posted a slash line of .275/.354/.337 for his career. May was drafted into the Navy after the 1943 season.
After returning from the war, May spent two years playing in the Pirates Minor League system before he was given the opportunity to take over the team's managerial job. May would spend the the next twenty-five years managing in the Minors for the Pirates, Indians, Yankees, and Reds. He had some great years mixed in there though, including a 90 win season with Keokuk Kernels, which is a rarity in the Minors.
One of May's other notable moments in his Minor League managing career came in 1967 while managing the Indians Class A Ball team in Statesville, North Carolina. The league also featured a Pirates affiliate with his son Milt as the starting catcher. Milt May ended the season with 10 home runs hit against his father's team. Those ten included an inside the park home run where Pinky was ejected for arguing that the ball got stuck in a net and should only be a double. In another game, Milt hit two home runs in consecutive at-bats, Pinky ordered him to be hit.
Milt ended up playing 15 years, primarily for the Pirates, Giants, and Tigers.
Card- Pinky May has several different cards floating around out there, most of them come from the late 1930s and 1940s Play Ball sets. I did not want to pay a ton of money for some slabbed card, so I watched a few that were in decent shape, and ended up with the one pictured above. It's off center, the corners are worn, there are some surface issues, but overall I really like this card. Obviously there are not a ton of 1930s baseball cards in my collection, so it's nice to end up with another one at a reasonable price.
Cool card! Off the top of my head I can't remember what year it was, but I know he had a really good season with the Oaks as well.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was 1937. Hit over .300.
Deletehttps://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=may---001mer
Damn... Pinky ordered his pitcher to throw at his son? Lol. Now that's old school baseball. I remember Milt from his years with the SF Giants.
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