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Originally Posted by Oriole1952
Good question. His HR production really dropped off in Houston and in Baltimore he only hit about 25 per year. Another question might be what would have happened to Tony Perez had he stayed in Cincy? I doubt if Perez could have held his own as a 3rd baseman all those years. Almost like the situation in SF a few years earlier where Cepeda was traded to clear 1st for McCovey. The difference there was Cepeda did much better post SF than May did after leaving the Reds.
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Cincinnati was a hitters park while the Astrodome was pitcher's paradise. That said, you can't just change one piece without changing the entire puzzle. Without Joe Morgan, the Reds don't become the dominant team they became and Lee May's production--which would likely have seen only a relatively small increase--would be less meaningful to the idiots of the BBWA (they do luvz them some titles). Moreover, May's overall numbers at the end are far from Hall worthy. I mean, well, he had worse numbers than Gil Hodges. I've always felt Gil should be in the Hall, but the writers never did. Unless you think May would have hit 50 or 60 home runs a year in Cincy, instead of the 27 he averaged in Houston and the 23-24 he averaged in Baltimore (not counting his last year there), I'm not seeing it. And, frankly, I think his drop off after coming to Baltimore wasn't due to the park, but to age. May's biggest problem was playing in an era when the pitching was dominant. In another era, yeah, then he probably puts up the numbers and makes it.
Of course, I don't think Kirby Puckett's got any business being in the Hall, either. So what do I know?