Originally signed by the
Cincinnati Reds, Alyea was drafted a year later by the
Washington Senators. Alyea made his major league debut on September 12, 1965. Called to the plate as a
pinch hitter, he hit a
home run off
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Rudy May on the first pitch he saw in the Majors. His most productive season came in 1970 for the
Minnesota Twins, when he posted career numbers in
batting average (.291) home runs (16) and
runs batted in (61), including seven-RBI games on April 7 (Opening Day) and September 7. Alyea was sent to the
Texas Rangers on December 1, 1972, completing a trade from 33 days prior on October 30 involving the
Oakland Athletics acquiring
Paul Lindblad for
Bill McNulty. In between, Alyea played winter ball for the
Cardenales de Lara,
Tiburones de La Guaira and
Tigres de Aragua clubs of the
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, leading the circuit in home runs in 1968 (17) and 1971 (12), and for RBI in 1971 (36). In addition, he played with the VPBL champion Tigres in the
1972 Caribbean Series. ==Later life==