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Merkle923 · 07-30-2015, 09:02 PM

Bizarre pre-1910 nicknames often leave opaque clues about the perception of a player by his contemporaries - but not William "Dolly" Gray.

He broke into the minors with the 1903 PCL Los Angeles Loo Loos, just five years after the saccharin music hall song "Good-bye Dolly Gray" was written during the Spanish-American war, and just two years after it was imported as a recruiting anthem for England's war against the Boers in South Africa. A lot of men named Gray got stuck with the name "Dolly."

Sadly, this story is probably the most interesting thing about Gray's major league career. After winning 58 of 83 decisions in L.A. in 1907 and 1908, he was pretty much cannon fodder in the American League. In a time when wins and losses were far stronger indicators of performance (since rare was the game when they didn't go to starters), his records of 5-19 in 1909, 8-19 in 1910, 2-13 in 1911 meant it was...Good-bye Dolly Gray.

07-30-2015, 09:02 PM	#25793
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,180	Dolly Gray 1909 Bizarre pre-1910 nicknames often leave opaque clues about the perception of a player by his contemporaries - but not William "Dolly" Gray. He broke into the minors with the 1903 PCL Los Angeles Loo Loos, just five years after the saccharin music hall song "Good-bye Dolly Gray" was written during the Spanish-American war, and just two years after it was imported as a recruiting anthem for England's war against the Boers in South Africa. A lot of men named Gray got stuck with the name "Dolly." Sadly, this story is probably the most interesting thing about Gray's major league career. After winning 58 of 83 decisions in L.A. in 1907 and 1908, he was pretty much cannon fodder in the American League. In a time when wins and losses were far stronger indicators of performance (since rare was the game when they didn't go to starters), his records of 5-19 in 1909, 8-19 in 1910, 2-13 in 1911 meant it was...Good-bye Dolly Gray. Last edited by Merkle923; 08-01-2017 at 11:25 PM.