Sunday, October 14, 2012

Togetherness (Lee May / Darrell Osteen)

I just noticed this last week:




Has this ever happened before or since?  Even Bill Davis, the Indians' rookie 1st baseman who famously appeared on FIVE rookie stars cards in the 1960s, managed to get a different dance partner each time.

The life and times of Lee May have already been covered here.

Darrell Osteen was signed by the Reds in 1962, 5 years after they signed pitcher Claude Osteen (who until today, I thought was his brother). Darrell pitched in the Reds' farm system from 1962-67, and made a few appearances with the Reds in '65, '66, and '67.

After the 1967 season, he and outfielder Floyd Robinson were traded to the Athletics for pitcher Ron Tompkins. Osteen missed the 1968 and 1969 seasons, but pitched in 3 games for Oakland in 1970, while spending most of 1970 and all of 1971 in the minors with the A's and Yankees.


I'm starting a rumor that Osteen, miffed when he couldn't stay with Lee May in Cincinnati, demanded a trade to another organization:


Osteen now takes his place among Bill Davis, Lou Piniella and Ron Stone in the 3+ Rookie Stars club.

2 comments:

Jonathan Frankel said...

and of course, Ron Tompkins links to a famous rookie card, shared with Johnny Bench in 1968.

Jim from Downingtown said...

Lee May passed away in July 2017. Oddly enough, Darrell Osteen died just 3 months later.