A Story of inner stRength & determination Written by Bill Coate Pete Gray ALso featuring Bethany Hamilton Natalie Du Toit Anthony Robles Unstoppable Author: Bill Coate ISBN Print: 978-1-63260-498-9 ePub: 978-1-63260-499-6 Copyright © 2013 SNAP! Learning® 4325 N. Golden State Blvd. #102 Fresno, Ca 93722 855.200.SNAP www.snaplearning.net ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. Table of Contents The Pete Gray Story ...................................................................................................... 4-8 A Dream Fulfilled: Pete Gray at Yankee Stadium ............................................................ 10-11 Legacy of a Pioneer ............................................................................................................. 13 Hero on a Surfboard ............................................................................................................ 14 Heroism in the Swimming Lanes ......................................................................................... 15 Courage on the Wrestling Mat ............................................................................................ 16 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 17 Additional Narrative ...................................................................................................... 18 Close Reading Check ...................................................................................................... 20 Writing .....................................................................................................................22-36 Rubric ........................................................................................................................... 37 Quick Writes ................................................................................................................. 38 References .................................................................................................................... 40 The Pete Gray Story 1 My name is Luke Sewell and I am the manager of the St. “Don, I had nothing to do with it,” I replied. “All the stars 3 Louis Browns. I will never forget the day I met Pete Gray, the are fighting in the war, and the front office says we have to one-armed man who wanted to play major league baseball. do something.” It was April 17, 1945, and we were going up against the Detroit Tigers. The clubhouse was quiet; nobody spoke a “Well, can’t that something be a player with two arms?” 4 word, but everyone stared at the new player as he looked Gutteridge yelled. for his locker. Don Gutteridge, my second baseman, broke the silence by throwing his glove to the floor. Out in the locker room, with Gutteridge gone, the tension 5 eased a bit. Mike Kreevich, our centerfielder, seeing the 2 He marched into my office and cried, “Luke, you can’t do new player was missing his right arm, walked up to him this. We are the American League champions, and we are and stuck out his left hand. The two men shook hands and fighting for the pennant again this year. Surely you can find the ice was broken for Pete Gray on this, his first day of somebody besides a one-armed man to play left field,” he playing in the big leagues. told me. 4 http://minot43.homestead.com/pete_gray_in_the_field.jpg 6 I learned later that Pete lost his arm when he was just Pete grew up unwavering in the belief that he would play 8 six years old. He was riding on the running board of a professional baseball someday, and by gosh, he did just neighbor’s truck and fell off, his right arm getting twisted that. However, it wasn’t in the big leagues right away, up in the wooden spokes of the old truck. Tragically, they playing first for a couple of minor league teams. Then in had to amputate it. 1945, when he was 30 years old, we brought Gray up from the Memphis Chicks, a minor league team in Tennessee. 7 Like most boys his age, Pete fell in love with baseball, He had done all right down there, but I always thought, and was determined to play with just one arm. He taught and I still do, that Richard Muckerman, our new owner, himself to catch a fly ball and throw it with the same hand. signed Pete just to use him as a gate attraction. I think he He could swing a bat and even bunt with that one arm. expected people to buy a ticket just to see a one-armed man play baseball. 5 The Pete Gray Story (Continued) Pete Gray fielding a ground ball 9 Muckerman may have been right, but there was nothing We won that game seven to one, and I am sure Pete was 10 I could do. I decided to start Gray in left field that day. I proud. He was the first one-armed major league baseball must admit, I was a little surprised. Batting second, Pete player to ever get a base hit. What he could not have been came to bat four times and got one hit, a sharp single to pleased about, however, was the way the other players left field. He made no errors and caught every fly ball that treated him. Only Kreevich acted like he knew Pete was came his way. He had a strange way of catching the ball there. Except for Mike, nobody congratulated him and so and throwing his glove under his stump of an arm. Then, he sat by himself at the end of the dugout, dressing alone in in almost one motion, he squeezed the ball out of his glove the locker room. That is when I decided that Pete Gray and and into his hand for the throw. Mike Kreevich would be roommates for all road games. 6 11 Things went on like that even after the doubleheader we third place. This hurt Pete and caused him to remain a played in New York in May. By then, I had Pete leading loner. Some of the sports writers said he was hard to get off and, with his first at-bat, he slammed a triple up the along with. Well, who could blame him? right field line. He stood there on third base rubbing that stump of an arm and smiling. He was fulfilling his dream Pete Gray played his heart out in every game that season, 13 of playing in Yankee Stadium! He went on to get three all 77 of them. He got 51 hits for a .218 batting average, more hits that day and two of them were doubles. hitting six doubles and two triples. With one arm, he only struck out eleven times. Then on September 30, 1945, Pete 12 Unfortunately, the rest of the team never forgave Gray’s major league career came to an end. Muckerman for signing a one-armed player just to increase attendance and they blamed Pete because the team was in 7 The Pete Gray Story (Continued) 14 We were playing the Tigers again, and I started Pete at back in his hometown of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. Most centerfield, batting third. He struck out, so I yanked him of the team always blamed Pete because we didn’t win the and put Milt Byrnes in his place. Pete sat silently alone American League pennant that year. In fact, Pete might on the bench for the rest of his last major league game. have blamed himself, and I think he always wondered if he I think he knew what was coming since World War II had made it to the majors on his playing abilities or because was over, and the regular players were coming home. he was a one-armed baseball player. There was one thing, Muckerman said we didn’t need Pete anymore, so I had however, that Pete did not have to wonder about. Hard to tell him we were releasing him. work and determination could overcome obstacles. He had learned the hard way that it was tough to be a pioneer. 15 I never saw Pete Gray after that day. I heard that he bounced around in the minors and eventually wound up 8 9 A Dream Fulfilled: Pete Gray at Yankee Stadium 10 11 Legacy of a Pioneer 12 16 Pete Gray was born in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania in 1915. the ball from his glove to his hand for a throw from the At age 6, he fell off a farmer’s truck and his right arm outfield. Still, he threw out three runners and committed was caught in the spokes of the wheel. The arm had to be only seven errors. amputated above the elbow. After the 1945 season, in which the Browns finished third, 20 17 As Pete grew up, he wanted nothing more than to be a dozens of major leaguers returned from military service professional baseball player. After his accident, he taught and Pete was sent back to the minor leagues. He played himself to be a left-handed batter and took almost all of the in the minors until 1949 and then returned to Nanticoke. padding out of his glove to help him catch fly balls. After making a catch, he would place the glove under the stump In 1986, a television movie about Pete, titled A Winner 21 of his right shoulder and throw the ball. Never Quits, was made. His glove was also placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Pete Gray died in 2002. He had 18 In 1942, when many baseball players left the United States achieved his dream of playing major league baseball and to fight in World War II, many teams needed replacements. his glove is in Cooperstown, New York, to prove it. This allowed Pete his chance to play baseball in the minor leagues. Then in 1945, he went to the majors as the St. Pete Gray was definitely a hero. He never quit in face of the 22 Louis Browns bought him from the Memphis Chicks for challenges and discrimination put before him. He refused $20,000, which was a large sum of money at the time. to be just a spectator simply because he had only one arm. He was determined to pursue his dream of being a major 19 In his career, Pete had 51 hits in 234 at-bats for the Browns.