Tuesday, April 21, 2009

PETE GRAY BELONGS ON OVERSEAS SQUAD

From the Sporting News, 9/9/43, sent in by Dave McGregor

Although the projected overseas baseball tour presumably is designed for major leaguers only, two former stars and one active minor leaguer have been nominated for the trip. Bill Corum, ace sports columnist of the NY Journal-American, proposes that Babe Ruth and Dizzy Dean, former Big Time luminaries, and Pete Gray, one-armed outfielder of the Memphis Southern Assn. club, be taken along.

There is no doubt that the boys overseas would like to see the fabulous Ruth and the colorful Dean. They are not so well acquainted with Pete Gray, and indeed, it is likely that many of them may never have heard of him, for this is only his second season in Organized Ball, both with minor league teams. However,no player on the squad would attract more attention than the amazing Memphis outfielder, the greatest one-armed player of all time.

All season, Gray has been banging the ball around .300 for Memphis, hauling down flies with uncanny skill, pegging out baserunners and stealing bases with the league's best. On August 29, when he was given a "day" at Memphis, he lashed out five singles in seven trips to the plate, made a unassisted double play, slid home with a run, stole a base and handled seven chances flawlessly. It was a performance of the type that has made the Chicks, with Gray as a star attraction, the best-drawing road club of the loop.

Gray lost his right arm in accident when only 6 years old. That handicap would have seen insurmountable to most youngsters who aspired to a diamond career, but not Pete.

THE SPORTING NEWS heartily seconds the nomination of Pete Gray for a place on the touring major league squad. In the battle zones, where the fighting men have seen so many of their comrades suffer crippling wounds, what greater inspiration could be given than the sight of the Chickasha Eagle, who is triumphing over physical handicaps with skill and courage?

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