Pete Gray

Peter J. Gray (March 6, 1915 – June 30, 2002) was a professional baseball player best known for playing as an outfielder in the major leagues despite having lost his right arm in a childhood accident.

Biography

Early life

Pete Gray was born as Peter James Wyshner in the mining town of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania on March 6, 1915. He was one of five children born to Lithuanian immigrants, Antoinette and Peter Wyshner. Pete's father worked in the coal mines of northeastern Pennsylvania to support his family. His older brother was a boxer in the middle weight division and went under the name Whitey Gray (boxed 1921–1928). During his time as a boxer Whitey Gray won 6 matches by KO, lost 5 (3 of which were KO's), had 3 Newspaper decision wins, and 2 Newspaper decision draws. In total, Whitey had 16 bouts with a 37.5% KO rate and boxed a total of 45 rounds. Pete was right-handed until he lost his right arm at age six, when he got into a truck accident in 1923. The arm had to be amputated above the elbow. He never could remember exactly how it happened and several versions of the story have emerged throughout the years. One of the final versions had it that Peter was sitting on a truck with friends and fell off. His arm got stuck in the spokes of the old fashion wheels. After the accident the driver dropped him on his family's porch and ran off. Gray's enthusiasm for baseball led him to learn to bat and field one-handed, catching the ball in his glove and then quickly removing his glove and transferring the ball to his hand in one motion.

Pete Gray (activist)

Peter Robert Gray (10 May 1980 in Newcastle, New South Wales – 30 April 2011) was an Australian environmental activist, notable for two landmark court cases, and for having thrown his shoes in public at former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard in protest over Australia's participation in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

He was described in an obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald as "a pleasure-loving intellectual" driven by "an instinctive anti-authoritarianism bordering on the larrikin".

Biography

Gray obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Classics, at the University of Newcastle; and then worked as an archivist in the university library. He was simultaneously a member of the Rising Tide "climate change action group", campaigning in particular against logging and coal mining.

In 2006, he took the Government of New South Wales to the Land and Environment Court over its environmental assessment of the Anvil Hill Coal Mine. The Court found in his favour, ruling that the government had failed to properly assess the greenhouse gas pollution that would be caused by the mining and subsequent use of the coal. It was described by Greenpeace as a "landmark case [...] that forced tougher scrutiny of coal mine emissions in Australia".