Remembering forgotten Pirates of the past: Milt May

Many baseball journeys end right back where they started. There are several players in Pirates history that followed this path, whether by trade or through free agency. Some spent their best years with different franchises, like Bob Purkey and Aramis Ramírez. This offseason, franchise icon Andrew McCutchen signed another one-year contract to remain in Pittsburgh. It’s hard to imagine him in another uniform, after such a highly anticipated homecoming. Another notable player to start and end their career with the Pirates is Milt May, who has a fascinating story.  

On Oct. 31, 1973, the Pittsburgh Pirates made a trade with the Houston Astros, dealing backup catcher May for Jerry Reuss, a left-handed starting pitcher. May was a member of the 1971 World Series championship team, hitting a clutch pinch-hit single in the seventh inning of Game 4 to give the Pirates the lead and eventual win. For the 1973 season, after the tragic passing of Roberto Clemente, regular catcher Manny Sanguillén saw some games in right field, with May starting behind the plate.

This arrangement did not last long, as Sanguillén returned to his natural position and May went back to the bench. Richie Zisk spent the most time in right field for his first full season in the majors, while Gene Clines and rookie Dave Parker both played all three outfield positions that year as well. The Pirates finished third in the NL East in '73 with a record of 80-82, a down year from their 96 wins and NLCS appearance (lost to Cincinnati 3-2) in the previous season.

A flurry of moves were made that offseason to improve the roster, more than Pittsburgh had seen in previous winters. The most consequential of these were the acquisitions of Reuss and Ken Brett. Manager Bill Virdon had also been fired towards the end of the ‘73 season and replaced by Danny Murtaugh, a two-time World Series champ, who was back for his fourth stint as the Pirates skipper.

Ken Brett, a starter and the older brother of George, came over from the Phillies following the best season of his career to that point. The strong rotation, led by veteran Jim Rooker, and potent offense, namely, Willie Stargell in his prime, brought the Pirates back to first place in the NL East. Still, the Pirates would end up losing in the Championship Series once again, this time to the Dodgers. They would not overcome this obstacle and hoist another World Series title for another five years, with a mostly new core of players.

Milt May became the Houston Astros starting catcher in 1974. In 127 games, he hit .289 with seven home runs and drove in 54, with a league leading .993 fielding percentage for catchers. His output was about on par with Sanguillén for that year. The next season, May led NL catchers in two categories, assists (70) and runners caught stealing (47). The Astros greatly declined, though, going from a .500 club to a 64-win team in 1975. May had trouble catching for newly acquired knuckleballer Joe Niekro that season, too. In the first game of a doubleheader at Candlestick Park, on May 4, 1975, May hit a three-run homer off of John Montefusco, which first brought in Bob Watson for Major League Baseball’s one millionth run. At the same time in Cincinnati, Dave Concepcion hit a home run, but Watson sprinted around the bases to beat him out for this historic record.

May was later traded to the Tigers in a seven-player deal during the offseason. The package included Dave Roberts, then a starting pitcher. Roberts later came to Pittsburgh as a bullpen arm in the Bill Madlock trade with the Giants midway through the 1979 season. May missed most of the ‘76 season after breaking his ankle early on. He bounced back when healthy, turning 12 double plays and allowing no passed balls in 1977, hitting a career high 12 home runs. He platooned with a promising rookie, Lance Parrish, the next year.

May eventually lost the starting job and was traded to the White Sox in 1979, a squad that finished in fifth place in the AL West. He signed a five-year deal with the Giants for $1 million, reuniting with former Pirates teammate Rennie Stennett, where he would enjoy some of the finest years of his career. On June 13, 1980, in a matchup versus the Mets at Shea Stadium, May hit the 9,000th home run in Giants franchise history off of Ray Burris. The next season, he hit .310 and received a vote for NL MVP. May remained the Giants starting catcher in 1982, valued at 2.8 bWAR. On Aug. 19, 1983, May was traded back to the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Steve Nicosia, another member of the ‘79 team. He retired after the 1984 season, appearing in 50 games.  

Milt May, forgotten Pirates catcher, eventually made his return to Pittsburgh

The son of Merrill “Pinky” May, an All-Star third baseman for the Phillies in the early ‘40s, Milt has been a coach and scout for several organizations after his 15-year career in the majors, including 10 seasons as the Pirates hitting coach. He was also the hitting coach for the Florida Marlins when they won the World Series in 1997. His son, Scott, who survived a near fatal car accident at 17, was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 41st round of the 1996 June Amateur draft, out of Carson-Newman University, a small school in Tennessee. Scott played two seasons in the Pirates' minor-league system, reaching Class A Augusta in ‘97.

It’s interesting to speculate on how different baseball history might be if a trade like May for Reuss had never happened. Reuss was great for the Pirates from ‘74 to ‘76. He pitched three scoreless innings as the starting pitcher of the 1975 All-Star Game in Milwaukee. Reuss was even better with the Dodgers in the early ‘80s. He pitched a no-hitter against the Giants, later finishing second in Cy Young Award voting in 1980, and won the World Series, throwing a one-run, complete game in Game 4, during the strike-shortened 1981 season.

The Pirates traded him to Los Angeles on April 7, 1979, for Rick Rhoden, who would become an ace (and fine hitter, too) for Pittsburgh by the mid ‘80s. Like Milt May, Jerry Reuss finished out his career in Pittsburgh, signing with the Pirates after being released by the Astros during the 1990 campaign. While May only spent a few years with the Pirates as a player, his impact on the game from the field and the dugout as a baseball lifer should not go unnoticed.