Ron Negray

To many in the game, Ron Negray’s talent portended something better than a 6-6 lifetime record over less than 200 innings in the majors, scattered over four seasons from 1952 through 1958. Front office executives at times questioned his competitiveness. Maybe he was just too nice a guy.

Ronald Alvin Negray was born February 26, 1930, in Akron, Ohio. He was the only child of Stephen and Mary (Bukovesky) Negray. Stephen worked for the Goodyear Rubber Co., where he would be employed for 41 years, while Mary was a homemaker.1 Both parents had been born in Pennsylvania, but three of Ron’s four grandparents had been born in what was the Czechoslovakian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Negray referred to himself as Slovak.2

Negray first made news at age 12, finishing second in a ping pong tournament at Glover Playground, but he would soon move on to bigger athletic triumphs.3 At Garfield High School, he led city champion teams in both basketball and baseball. He was all-city and honorable mention all-state in basketball and went 31-3 in four years as a pitcher on the baseball team, including a perfect game and 115 strikeouts in 66 innings as a senior.4 He graduated in 1948 and briefly attended nearby Kent State University before Brooklyn Dodgers scout Phil “Lefty” Weinert signed him for a reported $5,000 bonus, to report to spring training the next year.5 Negray was a right-hander, listed at 6-feet-1 and 185 pounds.

The Dodgers sent Negray to their Class D team in the Georgia-Florida League. At the lowest rung in the system, he went 21-6 in 228 innings for the Valdosta (Georgia) Dodgers, with an ERA of 2.17, vastly better than the league-wide ERA of 5.58. At spring training in 1950, his profile jumped. As was his wont, Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey took a seat right behind home plate as the organization’s farmhands played each other. But he soon focused on the pitcher for Al Campanis’ team. In rapid fire sequence, Rickey barked, “Who is that boy? He mixed up his pitches beautifully. That chap has a good fast ball, a nice curve and that change up and slow curve is magnificent. What was his record last year? How old is he?”6

For 1950, Negray was promoted to the Newport News (Virginia) Dodgers of the Piedmont League (Class B). It proved a disappointing year: a viral infection sent him to a local hospital early in the season and a sore arm to Johns Hopkins later in the year.7 His workload fell to 74 innings with a 3-4 record.

Even so, the Dodgers promoted him again. He split 1951 between two Class A teams – the Pueblo (New Mexico) Dodgers of the Western League and the Elmira (New York) Pioneers of the Eastern League. It was a mixed picture. His innings were back up to 172, but the ERA climbed to 4.08 and he issued more walks than strikeouts. The Brooklyn organization, however, still clearly liked what it saw, elevating him to the Triple-A St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints for 1952. Splitting time between starting and relieving, he went 11-7 with a 3.95 ERA in 180 innings. The control concerns remained—he had as many walks, 102, as strikeouts.

Yet the Dodgers remained high on Negray, bringing the 22-year-old to the majors in September—too late for World Series eligibility (Brooklyn clinched the NL pennant on September 23). He made four appearances, including one start, but earned no decisions. Brooklyn manager Chuck Dressen was impressed after Negray’s three-inning scoreless debut on September 14 against the Cincinnati Reds. Dressen noted that Negray got into trouble twice but worked his way out of it. Some days later, the skipper said, “I wish I could use him in the World Series because he’s got a good, live fastball.”8 Negray did get a partial loser’s share ($500) of the World Series bonus pool.9

On the day the Dodgers clinched the pennant, the players were presented with expensive wrist watches. Because Negray had arrived so recently, he wasn’t on the list of recipients, but Jackie Robinson noticed the rookie and gave him his watch. “He was a tough guy. He was a good guy. He was,” Negray later reminisced.10

Negray was clearly on the Dodgers’ radar that winter. After the sale of Clyde King to Cincinnati, Dressen indicated that he hoped to convert Joe Black into a starter and replace him in the bullpen with Negray and Jim Hughes.11 In 1953 spring training—setting up a pattern for the next three seasons—Negray stayed on the 40-man roster, went to Vero Beach, and barely missed making the varsity.

At Triple-A St. Paul, he worked almost exclusively as a starter. He won 10 games in 1953, when Dressen lobbied unsuccessfully for his recall, and 17 in 1954, another year in which he did not pitch in the majors.12 Negray’s ERA was below the American Association average in both seasons. More importantly, his ratio of strikeouts to walks improved steadily. He still lacked pinpoint control but allowed only 75 walks vs. 118 strikeouts in 211 innings in 1954.

As 1954 spring training loomed, new manager Walter Alston admitted he knew little about Negray, who was allowed to throw only six innings before being sent down.13 Negray admitted that he was getting frustrated and suggested that a change of scenery might be needed.14 The Dodgers’ enthusiasm was fading. After that season, minor-league head Fresco Thompson said that among minor-league additions to the 40-man roster, Negray “has the best chance. He can throw hard, has a better than average curveball and is always around the plate with his stuff.” But Thompson also added to sportswriter Dick Young, “[Negray] needs someone to light a firecracker under him. I think he’s an only child. I just hate to see a kid with that much talent miss out because he doesn’t have enough push.”15

St. Paul was again the 1955 destination for Negray. He made the Opening Day start for the Saints and was 4-3 when his scenery was indeed changed. On June 4, Philadelphia Phillies scout Johnny Nee saw him pitch a five-hit complete game shutout over Louisville. On June 7, the Phillies delivered cash and pitcher Dave Cole to St. Paul and immediately brought Negray to the big team.16 The 1950 pennant-winning Whiz Kids had fallen into mediocrity. “What we need most is better starting pitching,” said manager Mayo Smith.17

On June 19, Negray started and gave the Phillies seven shutout innings in a game that went 15. Five days later, he won his first major-league game, beating the Cincinnati Reds, 8-6. He would later describe this as the greatest thrill of his big-league career.18 His numbers weren’t all that great (five earned runs in seven innings), but they were enough to get him two more starts, including a five-hit complete game 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. On July 7, he made a relief appearance; thereafter he spent the rest of the season moving in and out of the starting rotation. “I got relegated to the bullpen. Why I don’t know,” he said at the time.19 The Phillies had a different read on Negray’s stuff compared to the Dodgers, praising his breaking pitches and downgrading his fastball.20

In Akron, Negray’s hometown fans organized an event for him when the Phillies visited Pittsburgh for a doubleheader on July 10. Between games, he received a movie projector and a portable radio, with a Philadelphia sportswriter noting the traditional baseball superstition that such honors were a “kiss of death.”21 Negray lasted only two innings in starting the second game that day, giving up three earned runs. For the season, he made 10 starts and nine relief appearances, posting a 4-3 record and an ERA of 3.52, better than the Phils’ team ERA of 3.93.

At spring training in 1956, Negray was an established part of the staff. He started the season in the bullpen but made one start in May and three in July, sandwiched between 35 total relief appearances. On July 17, he started and took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning but coughed up the lead in a game the Chicago Cubs won in the 16th inning. Five days later he gave up five runs in 1⅓ innings in what proved to be his last start of the season. He finished the season 2-3 with a 4.19 ERA, almost identical to the team’s 4.20 mark.

Negray said a groin injury had slowed him down early in the season and felt he’d do better with more starting work in 1957.22 He was making changes that year that would affect the rest of his life. In May, he married Shelly Koehl at the Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Church in Philadelphia.23 She was a secretary from Akron. They remained married for the rest of their lives, with one son, Ronnie.

After the season, Negray went to work as a sporting goods salesman for Huston-Pugh, an Akron firm, autographing all baseball equipment sold at the grand opening.24 Sporting goods sales would become his post-baseball career. Previously, he had spent his winters playing in Akron basketball leagues, as well as one pitching in Cuba. Subsequent winter ball stops included the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.

Back in Clearwater for spring training in 1957, the future was muddled. The Phillies’ pitching staff was considered overcrowded and Negray was clearly on the margins. Philadelphia sportswriter Don Daniels, after running down the possibilities, characterized him with the less-than-ringing endorsement that “there are worse pitchers with regular jobs around the majors.”25

As training camps wound up, it became apparent that Daniels’ analysis was on track. On April 5, the Phillies included Negray in a trade to obtain the shortstop they had been seeking. The Dodgers sent them slick-fielding Chico Fernández in return for Negray, Elmer Valo, minor-leaguers Tim Harkness and Melvin Geho, plus a player to be named later and a reported $75,000 in cash. Fernandez proved to be the Phillies first player of color and the move gave the team roster space to bring up John Kennedy, the team’s first African American player.26 Daniels delivered a parting shot, writing, “Ron Negray has been trying to prove he is a pitcher for about as long as anyone can recall.”27

The Dodgers—about to start their last season in Brooklyn—sent Negray to their newly acquired farm team in the Pacific Coast League, the Los Angeles Angels. He pitched ineffectively (1-4, 5.31), and in early June, the parent club moved him back to St. Paul, where he had considerably more success (11-7, 2.74). When the Saints made the American Association playoffs, he was named to start the opening game of the series.

After the season, Negray was added to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, but team brass remained ambivalent about him. “Ron is a nice boy,” said vice president Fresco Thompson, “He is one of those kids Rickey used to call a ‘pussycat.’ Branch meant he lacked aggressiveness. Ron used to be the kind of kid who smiled when he won and smiled when he lost—didn’t seem to feel bad about losing. But I think that he has sort of grown up. And he’s a better pitcher now. He has a good change off his very good curve and that has improved him greatly.”28

Negray made the roster of the 1958 Dodgers—who’d made their big move to Los Angeles—out of spring training. The team, anxious to impress the fans in their new city, started horribly; Negray was part of the problem. On Opening Day in San Francisco, the first major-league game on the West Coast, he gave up a run to the Giants in relief. Four days later he gave up two runs, plus another four five days after that. After three appearances, his ERA was 8.22 and he’d been relegated to a mop-up role.29 After his fourth appearance, Negray was shipped back to St. Paul as the Dodgers made multiple roster moves to try to stop their embarrassing skid.

Negray would never make it back to the major leagues. His career 6-6 record came with a 4.04 ERA in 15 starts and 51 relief appearances.

At St. Paul, he struggled with arm trouble while compiling a 5-7 record with a 4.85 ERA.30 In 1959, the Dodgers moved him to their Montreal Royals farm club, but then sold him to the independent Toronto Maple Leafs, also in the International League. While with Montreal, Negray was dropped into the middle of the Cuban revolution. The ballpark erupted as soldiers celebrated Fidel Castro by firing their rifles into the air. The Dodgers pulled their team out of Havana the next day, Negray said.31

Negray returned to the Maple Leafs in 1960 and had his last strong season, going 10-6 in 24 starts with a 3.19 ERA for a pennant-winning club affiliated with the Cleveland Indians.

He stayed with Toronto for the 1961 season even as the club lost its major-league affiliation. From there, Negray spent two nomadic seasons pitching for Toronto (by then in the Milwaukee Braves chain), then Hawaii (at that time affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels), and then back for a one-game appearance with Toronto in 1963. While pitching for Hawaii, he tried the iron-man stunt of pitching both ends of a doubleheader. He won the seven-inning opener; in the seventh inning of the second game, he was lifted for a pinch hitter and wound up the loser.32

Negray then settled into the sporting goods business, where his genial personality made for success. He had been working for a local company since the mid-1950s and in 1964 formed a partnership to open his own business, All-Ohio Sporting Goods. He kept a high profile in local sporting circles. He continued to play basketball at charity events and in recreational leagues around the city, teaming up with fellow major-leaguers Dean Chance and Gene Michael as well as a recent Ohio State graduate named Bobby Knight, who went on to fame as a college basketball coach, most notably at the University of Indiana.33

Negray also assisted coaching local amateur teams.34 He played in many weekend golf tournaments, eventually making at least four holes-in-one.35 He was a couple of months short of qualifying for the pension plan and tried to get the needed time as a batting practice pitcher, but he eventually gave up the quest and cashed out.36

Eventually, All-Ohio Sporting Goods was purchased by Russell Athletic, and Negray became their representative for Michigan and Ohio. He provided uniforms and other equipment for Cleveland teams in both baseball and football, as well as amateur clubs.37

Ron Negray died on November 8, 2018, in New Franklin, Ohio (an Akron suburb) after what was described as a “short illness.”38 He was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Akron next to Shelly, who had died five years earlier.

New York Daily News sportswriter Dick Young, who was known for his acid remarks, had one for Negray after a poor performance in his last major-league spring training, “Too bad such a nice kid doesn’t have more talent.”39

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Eric Vickrey and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Dan Schoenholz.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the endnotes, information was taken from Retrosheet.org, baseball-reference.com, The Sporting News, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com, and Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers yearbooks.

Photo credit: Trading Card DB.

Notes

1 “Ends 50-Yr. Goodyear Career,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 5, 1969, B3.

2 Ron Negray, Publicity Questionnaire for William J. Weiss, May 3, 1949.

3 “Glover,” Akron Beacon Journal, August 2, 1942, 35.

4 “All City Basketball Teams,” Akron Beacon Journal, March 7, 1948, 32; “Akron Cagers Earn Mention on All-Ohio,” Akron Beacon Journal, March 21, 1948, 36; “Negray is Signed by Dodger Club,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 26, 1948, 32; and Bob Shafer, “Ronnie Negray hurls Perfect Game against Buchtel Nine,” Akron Beacon Journal, May 10, 1947, 9.

5 “Negray is Signed by Dodger Club,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 26, 1948: 32.

6 Charles Karmosky, “The Sportscope,” Newport News Daily Press, April 16, 1950, 27.

7 Associated Press, “Menard’s Hitting Proves Downfall of Dodgers, Tars Triumph, 4 to 3,” Newport News Daily Press, May 17, 1950, 9; “Negray, DiBlasi to John Hopkins,” Newport News Daily Press, August 3, 1950, 8.

8 Dave Anderson, “Brooks Find No Series Relief in Bullpen,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 25, 1952, 19.

9 “Yanks, Tribe Cut 46 Into W.S. Pot,” The Sporting News, October 22, 1952, 18.

10 Bob Dyer, “Ex-Major Leaguer a Blast from the Past,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 16, 2016, A001. Quote is on the jump of this article, page A008.

11 Dave Anderson, “Dodgers Start Spring House Cleaning Early,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 11, 1952, 6.

12 Dick Young, “Diamond Dust – Mantle Battling Slump,” New York Daily News, June 21, 1953, 278.

13 Walt Alston, “Hurling Flock Weakness So Alston Will Operate,” New York Daily News, February 16, 1954, 44.

14 Loren Tibbals, “Scribbles,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 26, 1954, 45.

15 Dick Young, “The Sports of Kings and Queens,” New York Daily News, October 17, 1954, 552.

16 “Phils purchase Brooks’ Negray,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 8, 1955, 43.

17 Stan Baumgartner, “Negray Likely to Get Early Nod as Starter,” The Sporting News, June 22, 1955, 7.

18 Milan Zban, “1st Win Negray’s Biggest Thrill,” Akron Beacon Journal, October 7, 1972, 22. In the article, Negray confuses the details of this game with his next victory.

19 Zban, “1st Win Negray’s Biggest Thrill.”

20 Stan Baumgartner, “Phillies Score 5 Runs in 2d to Turn Back Pirates, 6-3,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 30, 1955, 33.

21 Art Morrow, “Phils Trip Pirates, 4-1, But Law Wins 3-1 Final,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11, 1955, 23.

22 Chuck Fitt, “Akron’s Ron Negray Expects to Better 2-3 Mark in ’57,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 4, 1956, 55.

23 “Negray’s No. 1 Fan,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 22, 1956, 32.

24 Advertisement. Akron Beacon Journal, November 14, 1956, 37.

25 Don Daniel, “Poor Mayo Has Too Many Hurlers,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 1957, 67.

26 Allen Lewis, “Brooks Swap Shortstop for Valo, Negray,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 6, 1957, 18. The player to be named later was pitcher Ben Flowers.

27 Don Daniels, “Vote for Johnny Despite ‘Big Deal,’” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 10, 1957, 51.

28 Roscoe McGowen, “Unrestricted Draft to End Bonus Rule, Fresco Hints,” The Sporting News, October 30, 1957, 20.

29 Dick Young, “Mays Slugs 2, Giants Win, 11-3,” New York Daily News, May 10, 1958, 275.

30 “American Association Notes,” The Sporting News, August 13, 1958, 38.

31 Dyer, “Ex-Major Leaguer…”

32 “Negray Tries Iron Man Act, but Spokane foils the attempt,” The Sporting News, August 25, 1962, 36.

33 “Has Benefit Cage Show,” Akron Beacon Journal, January 31, 1963, 42.

34 “Orphans are Making ‘Pitch’ for AA League Honors,” Akron Beacon Journal, May 30, 1963, 44.

35 “Hole-in-One,” Akron Beacon Journal, July 27, 1977, 44.

36 John Flynn, “Koufax Has Big Booster in Negray,” Akron Beacon Journal, July 25, 1965, 44.

37 Katie Byard, “His Career is Uniform,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 2, 1994, 1.

38 “Ronald A. Negray.”

39 Dick Young, “Diamond Dust,” New York Daily News, March 29, 1958, 246.