Birthday profile

Dick Gray

Dick Gray, American baseball player (died 2013)

Born
July 11, 1931
Died
July 8, 2013
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1931

About Dick Gray

Richard Benjamin Gray (July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2013) was an American professional baseball player. He was an infielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals from 1958 through 1960. Listed at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and 165 pounds (75 kg), he batted and threw right handed. Gray is best known as the player who hit the first home run in Los Angeles Dodgers' history and the first to homer in their opening game at LA Memorial Coliseum. == Early life == Born in Jefferson, Pennsylvania, Gray started playing sandlot ball at an early age with his neighborhood friends. He attended Jefferson High School in Pennsylvania, where he formed part of the baseball, football and wrestling teams. He graduated from Jefferson in June 1949 and immediately started his professional baseball career. == Professional career == At age 18, Gray attended a Brooklyn Dodgers' tryout camp at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, during 1949 spring training. Signed by Brooklyn, he played in their minor league system from 1950 to 1952 at three different levels.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Dick Gray was born

Dick Gray was born in 1931. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1931

  • #1 song"Stardust" – Artie Shaw
  • Top movieFrankenstein
  • Best-selling bookThe Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentKnute Rockne dies in plane crash
  • Top headlineAl Capone convicted of tax evasion
  • Technology milestoneEmpire State Building completed
  • Defining fadJigsaw puzzles
  • Notable inventionElectric razor
  • World population2.10 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHerbert Hoover
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population124.0M

1931 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Dick Gray's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19312026
Gas$0.17$3.45/gal
Average home$5,500$435,000
Average income$3,000$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population124.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.