Harry Grayson

Harry Markey Grayson (May 10, 1894 - September 30, 1968) was an American sportswriter. He was the sports editor of the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1934 to 1963.

Selected works by Grayson

Baseball

• Wagner and Mathewson Top National Loop's All-Time Greats (Honus Wagner/Christy Mathewson), February 5, 1936
• Landis To Smash Cards Syndicate, March 18, 1938
• Scott Gives Gehrig Three More Seasons (Lou Gehrig), May 2, 1939
• He Wants To Be A Fireman: Eccentric Ted Williams Wants To Quit Baseball (Ted Williams), May 28, 1940
• Feller May Win 30 As Indians Race Tigers Down Home Stretch (Bob Feller), August 19, 1940
• Scandal Broke Up "Greatest Team" (Black Sox Scandal), December 3, 1944
• Rickey Is Running Dodgers, Accounting for All Confusion (Branch Rickey), April 20, 1948
• Baseball World Mourns Passing of Most Glamorous Figure: Babe Pulled Game From Doldrums, Made Baseball What It Is Today (Babe Ruth), August 17, 1948
• Dodgers' 'Flying Ebony' Was Most Feared Man in Series (Jackie Robinson), October 13, 1949
• Bad Pitches, Sulking Remain Mantle's Big Faults (Mickey Mantle), February 28, 1957
• Cobb, Out of Baseball for 29 Years, Doubts Umps' Vision, July 27, 1957
• Berra Gets Rich Hitting 325 Foot Home Runs (Yogi Berra), June 25, 1962
• Help Wanted: Kaline Could Carry Club If He Had One To Carry (Al Kaline), June 22, 1963
• American League Is Sick, Sick, Sick, June 21, 1964

"They Played The Game"

In 1943, Grayson published a series of profiles on the great figures in baseball history. The series was published in newspapers under the name, "They Played The Game." This section links to a number of those articles. The following year, the articles were compiled into a book having the same title.^[1]

• Bad Loser Cobb Stands Alone As Fiery Genius of Baseball (Ty Cobb), March 28, 1943
• Johnson's Hurling An Open Book: Yet Big Train Threw Past Best of Hitters (Walter Johnson), March 31, 1943
• The Great Rajah! (Rogers Hornsby), April 28, 1943
• Baker's Home Runs Meant Something (Home Run Baker), April 1, 1943
• Ruth Drew $80,000 A Year And Was Grossly Underpaid (Babe Ruth), April 6, 1943
• Collins Calls Plank Greatest Pitcher; Kept Batters Waiting (Eddie Plank), April 19, 1943
• Tinker To Evers To Chance: Names That Spelled Double (Baseball's Sad Lexicon), April 20, 1943
• Eddie Collins Simply Had To Be Doing Something (Eddie Collins), April 21, 1943
• Black Sox Expunged From Records, But How They Could Play the Game! (Black Sox Scandal), April 26, 1943
• Effortless, Matchless for 19 Years, Alex Picked Up Where Young Left Off (Grover Cleveland Alexander), April 28, 1943
• Sisler, The Picture Player, Came Closest To Being a Cobb (George Sisler), May 5, 1943
• Ed Walsh, The Greatest Of Spitballers, Pitched His Arm Off For the White Sox (Ed Walsh), May 9, 1943
• Quick-on-the-Trigger Kelly Played Ball Like Cobb 25 Years Before (King Kelly), May 9, 1943
• Vance Was Violent Pitcher With Power, Speed To Burn (Dazzy Vance), May 26, 1943
• Watching Clam Shell Sail Gave Gave First Curve Ball To Cummings; They Said It Couldn't Be Done (Candy Cummings), May 28, 1943
• Collins Third Base Stylist; Couldn't Hit Ball Past Him (Jimmy Collins), June 2, 1943
• Huggins Excelled As Lead-Off Man (Miller Huggins), June 5, 1943
• Five Consecutive Shutouts Record Still Held by White (Doc White), June 5, 1943
• Anson An Idol Who Never Fell; Real Leader In Every Respect (Cap Anson), June 8, 1943
• Southpaw Rube Waddell Eccentric But How He Could Throw a Ball (Rube Waddell, June 15, 1943
• Trouble Followed Storm-Center Mays; Sore Arm Made Him Pitch Underhand (Carl Mays), June 16, 1943
• Altrock Wasn't Always A Clown; Was Great Pitcher (Nick Altrock), June 20, 1943
• Scott Padded Shoes To Escape Being Cut; Played 1307 Straight Games At Short (Everett Scott), June 21, 1943
• Zack Wheat Claimed Honor As Brooklyn's Most Popular (Zack Wheat), June 29, 1943
• Griffith Gained Tag, Old Fox, as Mound Ace for Cap Anson (Clark Griffith), July 8, 1943
• Sockalexis Socked Like Ruth, Was Faster Than Cobb, Threw a la Meusel (Louis Sockalexis), August 5, 1943

Football

• Rose Bowl Game Needs Huey Long: Kingfish Would Make Tilt Really 'Greatest Show on Earth' in 1935, November 6, 1934
• Rose Bowl Battle A Classic Despite Criticism (Rose Bowl), December 26, 1934
• Redskins Meet Packers Sunday (1936 NFL Championship Game), December 9, 1936
• Army-Navy Is Great Show Regardless of Records, December 6, 1963

Hockey

• Ice Hockey's Growth as Fast as Contest Itself, December 27, 1935
• Detroit Favored To Retain Title, November 17, 1936
• Hockey Teams Take Aim at Detroit's 7-Year Run, November 14, 1955
• Records Made To Be Broken But Not Richards' 500 Goals, October 26, 1957
• Maple Leafs' Star Learns His Lesson (Frank Mahovlich), December 25, 1960
• Canadiens' Line After All-Time Scoring Record, January 15, 1961
• Stylish Harvey Organizes Rangers' Sustained Attack, December 7, 1961
• All-Time Greatest in Hockey? Those Who Know Say Howe, October 26, 1963

Basketball

• The Scoreboard (Wilt Chamberlain), April 12, 1956
• Robertson Runs Bearcats While Leading Scorers (Oscar Robertson), January 2, 1960
• Lucas Could Have Own Way As Pro or In Business -- Now!, January 2, 1961
• Pro Basketball Grows As Big As Its Players, November 3, 1961
• Lucas and Robertson Give Pro Basketball Another Big Show, November 11, 1963

Boxing

• Louis' Hammering Fists 'Elixir' to Dying Fight Game (Joe Louis), December 20, 1935
• Louis Old Dog Learning New Tricks for Marciano Match, October 22, 1951

Golf

• More Golfers Should Have Yips Like Hogan, June 7, 1957
• Palmer's Open Win Gives Golf First Big Name Since Hogan, July 3, 1960
• Nicklaus Compared With Jones With No Apologies, June 19, 1962
• Arnie a One-Man Peace Corps (Arnold Palmer), November 17, 1962
• Magic of Bobby Jones, April 8, 1964

Other

• Sonja Henie Makes Country Ice Conscious and Rescues Arenas (Sonja Henie), January 21, 1938
• Big Bill Tilden Picks Don Budge As Greatest of Tennis Players (Bill Tilden), February 22, 1945
• Bobby Riggs Has Become No. 1 Tennis Promoter (Bobby Riggs), September 28, 1949

References