Lee Maye facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lee Maye |
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| Outfielder | |||
| Born: December 11, 1934 Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
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| Died: July 17, 2002 (aged 67) Riverside, California |
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| debut | |||
| June 17, 1959, for the Milwaukee Braves | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| June 29, 1971, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .274 | ||
| Home run | 94 | ||
| Runs batted in | 419 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Arthur Lee Maye (born December 11, 1934 – died July 17, 2002) was a talented American athlete and singer. He played professional baseball for eleven seasons as an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played for teams like the Milwaukee Braves, Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, and Chicago White Sox.
Beyond baseball, Maye was also a well-known rhythm & blues singer. He was the main singer of a doo-wop group called Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns in the 1950s. He was truly a star in both sports and music!
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Arthur Lee Maye's Amazing Career
Arthur Lee Maye had a unique career, shining in both baseball and music. He played in Major League Baseball for 13 years. During this time, he played for several teams across the country. He was often a starting player, especially from 1961 to 1966 and again in 1969. He also frequently helped his team as a pinch-hitter.
Baseball Highlights
In 1964, while playing for the Milwaukee Braves, Maye had one of his best years. He played 153 games played, had 74 RBI (runs batted in), and a .304 batting average. He also led the National League with 44 doubles that year.
Some other cool moments in his baseball career include:
- He hit 2 home runs in one game against the Chicago Cubs on August 8, 1962.
- He had two games where he got 5 hits! One was against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, and another against the Chicago Cubs in 1966.
- He had eight games where he got 4 hits. In one of these games, he scored four runs against the New York Yankees in 1970.
Overall, Maye played in 1,288 games played. He got 1,109 hits, hit 94 home runs, and had 419 RBI. His lifetime batting average was .274.
Music Journey
Arthur Lee Maye was known for his singing voice, which was a tenor and falsetto. A music writer named Phil Milstein described his singing as "deft" and "authoritative." Maye recorded songs for many different record labels. He even opened a show at the famous Hollywood Bowl!
He once told Phil Milstein, "I am the best singing athlete that ever lived. I am not bragging. It's just a fact." This shows how proud he was of his musical talent.
Early Life and Talents
Arthur Lee Maye's journey in both baseball and music began when he was in high school. He went to Jefferson High School in Los Angeles. There, he sang with other students who later became famous musicians. These included Jesse Belvin and future members of popular groups like the Platters, the Penguins, and the Coasters.
Maye was also a baseball star at Jefferson High and on local semi-pro teams. A scout for the Milwaukee Braves, Johnny Moore, saw his amazing talent. Moore noticed Maye could hit the ball with power and was incredibly fast. He could run 100 yards in less than 10 seconds! Moore convinced the Braves to sign him.
Maye explained his choice, saying, "Baseball was my first love. I could always sing at fifty, but I couldn’t play baseball at fifty." He started his professional baseball career in 1954. At the same time, he began his professional music career. He joined Richard Berry and recorded songs with groups like the "5" Hearts and the "Rams." He even sang backup on the original "Louie Louie"!
Minor League Adventures
Maye played for several of the Braves' minor league teams across the country. While traveling, he also formed his musical group, The Crowns. The Crowns had two hit songs in the Los Angeles area: "Truly" and "Love Me Always." In 1956, they released their most famous song, "Gloria." They also had another important song called "This is the Night for Love."
Maye learned a lot from his travels. He said, "I'd watch all of them, any entertainer when I was in a town. You learn from each other." He wanted to improve his stage presence by watching other top performers. In 1959, he had a great year in minor league baseball, batting .339 with 17 home runs. This helped him finally make it to the Major Leagues.
Major League Years
Arthur Lee Maye started his Major League Baseball career strong, hitting over .300 in his first two seasons. However, a back injury and a breathing illness slowed him down in 1961 and 1962.
In 1964, he had a fantastic year, hitting .304 and leading the National League in doubles. At the same time, his solo music album, Halfway Out of Love, sold over 500,000 copies! An ankle injury in 1965 affected his season. He was then traded to the Houston Astros. In 1966, playing in the Astrodome, he hit .288 with 9 home runs.
His music career was managed by Huey Meaux during this time. Meaux helped him record music and get regular performances at popular Houston nightclubs. Maye was traded to the Cleveland Indians before the 1967 season. In 1968, he hit .281. He was traded to the Washington Senators in 1969. He played his final year in 1971 with the White Sox.
Maye played during a time in baseball known as the "second deadball era," where it was harder to hit home runs. He felt proud of his career, saying, "The greatest thrill is not getting to the major leagues. It's staying there. I played 13 seasons when they had only 16 teams and I think that was a great accomplishment for me."
Balancing Baseball and Music
Arthur Lee Maye's two careers often created challenges. He used the name Arthur Lee Maye for singing but Lee Maye for baseball. This sometimes caused confusion, especially when another player named Lee May (Lee Andrew May) also started playing Major League Baseball in 1965.
Only one record ever mentioned his dual career: a 1959 song called "Will You Be Mine" had "Lee Maye of the Milwaukee Braves" on the label. Maye explained that playing baseball full-time meant he fell behind in music trends. He said, "Baseball and singing collided." He also knew that baseball kept him from going on tours to promote his songs.
Life After Baseball
After his baseball career ended, Lee Maye tried for ten years to find a job in professional baseball. It was difficult to find non-playing jobs for Black players at that time. Maye later worked for Amtrak until he retired.
Music Comeback
In the mid-1980s, Maye returned to the music studio. He recorded new songs like "Moonlight" and "Happy and In Love." "Moonlight" became a popular song on several music collections and is still played on doo-wop radio shows. Arthur Lee Maye was very proud of this song. He had plans for a European music tour when he became sick with liver cancer.
His Final Years
Arthur Lee Maye passed away at the age of 67 on July 17, 2002, in Riverside, California. He died from pancreatic cancer. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
