Salt Lake Telegram | 1928-01-07 | Page 10 | Evans Declares 'Dolly' Gray Hurled Freakiest Baseball Game

Evans Declares Dolly Gray Hurled Freakiest Baseball Game Old Old Washington Pitcher PItcher Loses One Hit Contest Allowing Eight Walks O 4 By Billy Evans During the e. e season of 1909 the ton club of the American league had on olt Its pitching staff a southpaw by the name name- of or Dolly Gray so 50 nam named d because of a popular popular pop pop- ular song of those days bearing the title Goodbye Dolly Ora Gray The Washington club of 1909 was far from a pennant contender It had a s staff aff of hurlers that was none too strong strom A header double was scheduled on the day In question otherwise Gray might not have been permitted d to remain on the rubber and fI figure re in a freak bit of pitching that otherwise couldn't have happened He lie would have carried carried car car- ried nod out the thought of the tie popular song sons and said Goodbye Gr Gray y was a southpaw along the i lines of Herb Pennock of ot the Fan Yan kees He lie didn't have a world of stuff but lie he le had plenty of ot poise and as a rule great s-reat control In Inthis Inthis Inthis this particular game he was drawIng drawIng drawIng draw- draw Ing the too fine WALKED EIGHT BATTERS Can you ou Imagine a pitcher working work work- ork- ork Ing ng a game In which ho he all alloyed wed only one scratch hit hnit yet was soundly beaten because of one bad Inning which n featured a sudden lapse of control The game tame was nas staged In Chicago Tt It was tho the first half of ot Q a a doubleheader double double- header I have alwa always S believed Gray should have have been been credited witha with a hit no-hit performance which would have made the Incident all the freakier If It my 1113 memory serves 3 me lne correctly correctly cor cor- Pat Dougherty hit the he ball that was wag scored a lilt hit I It took rook a abad abad bad bound as It near neared d the shortstop short short- stop causing him himo o o momentarily juggle the ball losing the tIne runner at first b by an eyelash In that same inning Gra Gray who prior to the one bad Inning pitched In fine lime style and who ho kept it up ater after after af af- a- a ter the explosion gave hae eight bas bases s son on balls seven of or them In hi sion slon i. i Ordinarily such a thing thins couldn't happen since the tho manager would derrick his lila pitcher before he got Into so much trouble But as RS I I- I have explained had a weak weLk hurling staff AND LOST GAME All tine the runs that were scored off 0 Grays Gray's dell delivery very came in the Inning in which he suddenly became wilder thin a a. fl peaceful resident of Borneo Usually Gray could Work the cornels cornel's corners cor cor- ners nels to the best possible f tage In this one particular Inning he ha was just missing Its lis mark I feel that I 1 am ann conservative In sayIng saying say- say Ing log I called at least twenty pitches balls that didn't miss the plate more than an Inch or so BO In a a great many cases the count was three balls and two strikes on the bat bat- ter Tine The only lilt hit made In that Inning in the entire game was vas as the fluke made by Pat Dougherty on a badly bounding ban ball to the tine shortstop It would have been b n an art easy out had It not been for the tho false hop 1 The following Inning Gray was back bacle on his game and held the White Sox Sex at his mercy as ho he did the rest of the game The Theone Theone Theone one wild Inning however was fatal That game stands out as one of the best and worst bits of pitching I have ever seen a n near ar no-hit no game In which the team get getting ling the theone theone theone one fluke luke bingle won son as It pleased because of the one ono wild Inning lon on the part of Dolly Gra Gray In my next article I will discuss discuS the tho three most remarkable finishes I have even avert seen staged in a world series game