boys of summer Jack Graney

John Gladstone Graney (June 10, 1886 – April 20, 1978) was a Canadian left fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire career with the Cleveland Indians (1908, 1910-1922). He was born in St. Thomas, Ontario.

On June 26, 1916, the Cleveland Indians used numbers on their uniforms on an experimental basis in a home game against the White Sox. The numbers, which were worn on the players' uniform sleeves, corresponded with information in the scorecards. Jack Graney was the first major league player to appear in a game with a number on his uniform.

After retiring from playing, Graney became a play-by-play broadcaster for the team, thus being the first former major league player to become a broadcaster in the United States. He died at age 91 in Louisiana, Missouri. He has been inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

In the 1980s, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame instituted an award in Graney's name, presented periodically to journalists deemed to have made notable contributions to promoting baseball in Canada.

Batting Statistics
Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1910 Cleveland 116 454 62 107 13 9 1 31 37 x .236
1911 Cleveland 146 527 84 142 25 5 1 45 66 x .269
1912 Cleveland 78 264 44 64 13 2 0 20 50 x .242
1913 Cleveland 148 517 56 138 18 12 3 68 48 55 .267
1914 Cleveland 130 460 63 122 17 10 1 39 67 46 .265
1915 Cleveland 116 404 42 105 20 7 1 56 59 29 .260
1916 Cleveland 155 589 106 142 41 14 5 54 102 72 .241
1917 Cleveland 146 535 87 122 29 7 3 35 94 49 .228
1918 Cleveland 70 177 27 42 7 4 0 9 28 13 .237
1919 Cleveland 128 461 79 108 22 8 1 30 105 39 .234
1920 Cleveland 62 152 31 45 11 1 0 13 27 21 .296
1921 Cleveland 68 107 19 32 3 0 2 18 20 9 .299
1922 Cleveland 37 58 6 9 0 0 0 2 9 12 .155

Career statistics
Batting average  .250
Hits  1178
Home Runs  18
Runs batted in  420