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{{Short description|Canadian baseball player and announcer (1886–1978)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Jack Graney
|image=Jack Graney 1920.jpg
|position=[[Outfielder]]
|birth_date=June 10, 1886
|birth_place=[[St. Thomas, Ontario]], Canada
|death_date={{death date and age|1978|4|20|1886|6|10}}
|death_place=[[Louisiana, Missouri]], U.S.
|bats=Left
|throws=Left
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate= April 30 
|debutyear= 1908
|debutteam=Cleveland Naps
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=June 28
|finalyear=1922
|finalteam=Cleveland Indians
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.250
|stat2label=[[Home run]]s
|stat2value=18
|stat3label=[[Runs batted in]]
|stat3value=420
|teams=
* [[Cleveland Indians|Cleveland Naps/Indians]] ({{mlby|1908}}, {{mlby|1910}}–{{mlby|1922}})
|highlights=
* [[World Series champion]] ({{wsy|1920}})
* [[Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame]]
| hofcolor= #EC1C40
| hoflink= Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
| hoftype= Canadian 
| hofdate= 1984
}}
'''John Gladstone Graney''' (June 10, 1886 – April 20, 1978) was a Canadian professional [[baseball]] [[left fielder]].<ref name="sabr">{{cite web|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jack-graney/|title=Jack Graney - Society for American Baseball Research|last=Ulrey|first=Adam|website=sabr.org|access-date=January 21, 2024}}</ref> He played in [[Major League Baseball]] for 14 seasons, all with the [[Cleveland Indians]] franchise. In his 1402-game career, Graney batted .250 (1178-for-4705) with 706 runs, 18 home runs and 420 RBI.

Following his playing days, Graney became a baseball radio broadcaster, providing play-by-play for the Indians from 1932 to 1953. He was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Distinguished Hall of Fame for non-uniformed personnel on August 11, 2012, prior to a game at [[Progressive Field]]. He is the recipient of the 2022 [[Ford C. Frick Award]].

==Playing career==
[[File:Jack Graney baseball card.jpg|100px|thumb|left]]
Graney began his professional baseball career as a [[pitcher]], and remained one through the 1909 season. He pitched in two games for the Cleveland team (then known as the Naps) in 1908, and spent the rest of 1908 and 1909 with the [[Portland Beavers]]. When he was brought back up to the Naps' roster in 1910, they converted him to an [[outfielder]], as team management did not trust his control at the major league level.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nerve Makes Jack Graney a Success|work=[[The Plain Dealer]]|date=February 27, 1911|page=8}}</ref>

Graney was the first batter to face [[Babe Ruth]] in a major league game, on July 11, 1914.<ref name=BladeObit>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19780420&id=GA9PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bgIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6759,5912880&hl=en |title=Jack Graney |work=[[The Blade (Toledo)|The Blade]] |location=Toledo, Ohio |date=April 21, 1978 |page=9 }}</ref> He led the American League with 41 doubles in 1916, scoring a career-high 106 runs, and led the league in walks in both 1917 and 1919.

On August 17, 1920, Indians shortstop [[Ray Chapman]], Graney's roommate and best friend, died after having been struck in the head by a [[Carl Mays]] pitch in a game against the [[New York Yankees]] the day before. Graney was devastated, and suffered a breakdown upon viewing Chapman's body, having to be forcibly removed from the hospital room. Two days later during the casket viewing, Graney fainted. He was too distraught to attend the funeral and never forgave Mays for what he believed was an intentional beaning. The Indians went on to win the pennant and [[1920 World Series]] against [[Brooklyn Dodgers|Brooklyn]], with Graney going hitless in his only three postseason at-bats.

==Broadcasting ==
After retiring from playing, Graney became a play-by-play broadcaster for the Indians, thereby becoming the first former Major League Baseball player to become a radio broadcaster in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schlossberg |first1=Dan |title=Jack Graney, First Player-Turned-Broadcaster, Wins Baseball Hall Of Fame's Ford Frick Award |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschlossberg/2021/12/08/jack-graney-first-player-turned-broadcaster-wins-ford-frick-award/ |website=Forbes.com |access-date=8 December 2021}}</ref> From 1947 to 1953, Graney’s partner in the radio booth was fellow Ford C. Frick Award recipient [[Jimmy Dudley]]. Nationally, Graney broadcast the [[1935 World Series]] for [[Major League Baseball on CBS Radio|CBS]] radio. He also called games for the [[Cleveland Barons (1937–1973)|Cleveland Barons]] of the [[American Hockey League]].<ref name="sabr" />

Graney died at age 91 in [[Louisiana, Missouri]], on April 20, 1978.<ref name=BladeObit/>

==Legacy==
Graney was inducted into the [[Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 1984, its second year of operation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Graney |url=https://baseballhalloffame.ca/hall-of-famer/jack-graney/ |website=baseballhalloffame.ca |publisher=Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum |access-date=2 January 2022}}</ref> In 1987 the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame instituted an [[Jack Graney Award|award]] in Graney's name, presented periodically to journalists deemed to have made notable contributions to promoting baseball within Canada.

In the [[2022 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting]], he won the [[Ford C. Frick Award]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/jack-graney-wins-2022-frick-award|title = Graney honored with '22 Ford C. Frick Award|website = [[MLB.com]]}}</ref>

The [[Greater Cleveland]] chapter of the [[Society for American Baseball Research]] is named in honor of Graney.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Graney Chapter |url=https://sabr.org/chapter/jack-graney-chapter/ |website=Society for American Baseball Research}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Major League Baseball players from Canada]]
*[[List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders]]
*[[List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Baseballstats|br=g/graneja01|fangraphs=1004943|brm=graney002joh}}

{{1920 Cleveland Indians}}
{{Major League Baseball on CBS Radio}}
{{Cleveland Guardians HOF}}
{{Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame}}
{{Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame}}
{{Ford C. Frick Award}}
{{2022 Baseball HOF}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graney, Jack}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:American Hockey League broadcasters]]
[[Category:American radio sports commentators]]
[[Category:Baseball people from Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States]]
[[Category:Cleveland Indians announcers]]
[[Category:Cleveland Indians players]]
[[Category:Cleveland Naps players]]
[[Category:Des Moines Boosters players]]
[[Category:Ford C. Frick Award recipients]]
[[Category:Fulton (minor league baseball) players]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball broadcasters]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball left fielders]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball players from Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen]]
[[Category:Minor league baseball managers]]
[[Category:Portland Beavers players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from St. Thomas, Ontario]]
[[Category:St. Thomas Saints players]]
[[Category:Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players]]