Gary George Gray (born September 21, 1952 in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

first baseman who played parts of six seasons from until . During that time, he played for the Texas Rangers,

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

Career

Gray played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern, SE, or SOSU) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had an undergraduate enrollment of 4,824 in 2019. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an ac ...

, and was selected by the Rangers in the 18th round of the 1974 Major League Baseball Draft. He spent 1974 with the Rangers' rookie squad, then played for the Anderson Rangers in 1975. With Anderson, Gray had a .302

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 18

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, and 95

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

in 135 games. In 1976, he played for the San Antonio Brewers, and had a .305 batting average, 19 home runs, and 109 runs batted in over 124 games. Gray spent the next three seasons primarily with the

Tucson Toros The Tucson Toros were a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The original Toros were a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1969 to 1997, where they won the PCL Championship in ...

, the Rangers' AAA affiliate, but saw bits of playing time with the major league Rangers. He made his debut on June 23, 1977, going 0-for-2 in his only game, and played in 17 and 16 games the following two seasons. Before the 1980 season began, the Rangers traded Gray, Mike Bucci, and

Larry McCall Larry Stephen McCall (born September 8, 1952) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the New York Yankees (–) and the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers (). He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. Playing career ...

to the Cleveland Indians for

David Clyde David Eugene Clyde (born April 22, 1955) is a former left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played for five seasons with the Texas Rangers (1973–1975) and Cleveland Indians (1978–1979). He is noted for his once promising baseball ca ...

and

Jim Norris James Francis Norris (born December 20, 1948) is a former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball from 1977 to 1980 for the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers, playing all three outfield positions. Amateur career ...

. That year, he hit .148 in 28 games with Cleveland, and spent most of the year with the Tacoma Tigers. The following offseason, he was picked up by the Seattle Mariners in the Rule 5 Draft, as manager

Rene Lachemann Rene George Lachemann (born May 4, 1945) is a retired American professional baseball coach, catcher and manager. He spent 33 years in Major League Baseball, including service as the manager of the Seattle Mariners (1981–83), Milwaukee Brewers (1 ...

watched Gray play in the Pacific Coast League and wanted him in the starting lineup. He had his best season in 1981, splitting time at first base with starter Bruce Bochte and hitting 13 home runs in just 208 at bats. The next season, he hit .257 in a career high 80 games. After the season, his contract was sold to the California Angels. He played from 1983 to 1987 in the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

, primarily with the

Rieleros de Aguascalientes The Rieleros de Aguascalientes (English: Aguascalientes Railroaders) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Aguascalientes, Mexico. History Baseball arrived in Aguascalientes in hand with the railroad at the beginning o ...

, before retiring from baseball.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
o
Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Gary 1952 births Living people African-American baseball players Alacranes de Campeche players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Anderson Rangers players Baseball players from New Orleans Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Cleveland Indians players Diablos Rojos del México players El Paso Diablos players Gulf Coast Rangers players Major League Baseball first basemen Ostioneros de Guaymas players Rieleros de Aguascalientes players Salt Lake City Gulls players San Antonio Brewers players Saraperos de Saltillo players Seattle Mariners players Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm baseball players Tacoma Tigers players Texas Rangers players Tucson Toros players Vancouver Canadians players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople