Before they were millionaires, baseball stars worked in offseason

Even when he was at the height of his stardom with the St. Louis Cardinals in the late '60s and early '70s, Lou Brock owned and operated a flower shop in the offseason.

Heinz Kleutmeier/SI

But the strangest offseason of all belonged to Bill Melton. Alone among his colleagues in major-league baseball, the White Sox third baseman spent the winter in a novel pastime for a professional athlete. As the back of his card noted, with an air of wonder: "Bill exercises to get himself into condition."