Major League Baseball Player, Singer. He had the unusual uniqueness of enjoying a successful singing career as a Doo-wop artist, followed by an impressive period as a player in Major League Baseball. Born Arthur Lee Maye, his family moved to Los Angeles during his childhood. While in high school, he participated in baseball and achieved All-City status. Additionally, during those years he sang in a music group called “The Carmels." This led to an association with singer and songwriter Richard Berry. Maye initially recorded as a member of the ensemble “The Five Hearts” and released the singles “The Fine One” and “Please Baby Please” during this period. He later recorded under the group name “The Rams” and released the singles “Sweet Thing” and “Rock Bottom," prior to forming his own ensemble “Arthur Lee Maye and The Crowns." Under the Dig label, they recorded the singles “Truly," “Love Me Always” and “This Is the Night for Love." Meanwhile his baseball career was taking shape, as he was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in June 1954. For thirteen seasons (1959 to 1971), he played in the outfield with the Milwaukee Braves, Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox. He made his Major League debut on July 17, 1959 and played in 51 games that season. During his years with the Braves (1959 to 1965), he shared the outfield with fellow Alabama native Hank Aaron. In 1964, Maye produced a career-high 179 hits, of which included a league-leading 44 doubles and an impressive .304 batting average. Maye found it difficult to maintain both a baseball and music career simultaneously, as it proved near impossible to travel as a ballplayer and tour and promote his recordings. The result would be the stoppage of his music career. During the course of his baseball career, Maye acquired the reputation of being hard to play with for which resulted in his being dealt to different teams several times. Additionally, his often frankness on the issue of race put him at odds with management. He retired from baseball following the 1971 season. In 1,288 career regular season games, he compiled 1,109 hits, with a .274 lifetime batting average. He found a job as a salesman and later with Amtrak. During the 1980s, he revived his music career. He died of complications from diabetes and liver cancer.