MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 DAVE MAY

Yeah I'm pushing it a bit to say that Dave May was "missing" from the 1979 set, but I came across this photo of him as a Pittsburgh Pirate, even though he only appeared in 5 games for them at the end of the 1978 season, the last five games of his career, so I just had to create a card.

Take a look:

May appeared solely as a pinch-hitter for the Bucs in '78, thus closing out a decent 12-year career that saw him play for the Orioles, Brewers, Braves, Rangers and Pirates.

I profiled his career more in-depth a little while back when I created his "missing" 1977 card, a card that SHOULD have been produced by Topps.

You can take a look at that post to read further (or simply go to Baseball-Reference.com).

Cards like this one are definitely fun to do, even IF they really had no business being in a Topps set.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 DAVE MAY

You'd think someone who appeared in 105 games and collected over 200 at-bats might find a spot in Topps set the following year.

But apparently there wasn't any room for former outfielder Dave May. So allow me to post my design for the "missing" card:

Even though May would be a Texas Ranger by the time the 1977 season opened, I decided to have him as an Atlanta Braves player since he had so much playing time for them in '76, and well, since I found such a sweet shot of him from that period.

May posted a .215 batting average that season, going 46 for 214 with 27 runs scored and 23 runs batted in while playing left and right field.

He did carve out a decent 12-year career for himself in the big leagues, playing for the Orioles, Brewers, Braves Rangers and Pirates before retiring after the 1978 season.

His best year was easily the 1973 campaign while with the Brewers. He not only was named to the all-star game for the only time in his career, but finished in 8th-place in M.V.P. voting as well.

That season May hit .303 with 189 hits, 96 runs scored, 23 doubles and 25 home runs and 93 R.B.I.'s.

He also led the American League in total bases with 295 while finishing second in hits, 6th in runs scored and 9th in runs batted in.

Lastly, in 1990 his son, Derrick made his Major League debut for the Chicago Cubs and played through the 1999 season as an outfielder as well.