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Harry Grayson

American sportswriter (1894-1968)

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Source updated October 14, 2025

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.

01Selected 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
Stengel's Multiple Moves Have Managers Emulating Puppeteers (Casey Stengel), June 27, 1953
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.

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
Delahanty Was Ruth of Dead Ball Days (Ed Delahanty), May 3, 1943
Sisler, The Picture Player, Came Closest To Being a Cobb (George Sisler), May 5, 1943
Severed Finger Helped Mordecai Brown to Achieve Rank Among Greatest Pitchers (Mordecai Brown), May 7, 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

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Harry Grayson”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Harry Grayson

01Selected works by Grayson

Baseball

"They Played The Game"

Football

Hockey

Basketball

Boxing

Golf

Other

Sources and credits