Pete Wyshner was the son of Lithuanian immigrants who worked in the coal mines surrounding Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. As a child he had a dream to play major league baseball in Yankee Stadium. Despite losing his right arm in a truck accident at the age of six, he taught himself to hit and field with his left hand. Changing his last name to "Gray" in order to avoid ethnic prejudice, Pete worked his way up from the crude sandlots of the anthracite baseball leagues to the green cathedrals of major league baseball.

In 1944 Gray played outfield for a minor league team called the "Memphis Chicks." His .333 batting average and league-leading 68 stolen bases earned him the Most Valuable Player Award of the Southern Association. Nicknamed "One -Armed Wonder" by the sportswriters, Gray was signed by the St. Louis Browns the following year, and became the first one-armed man ever to play major league baseball.

On May 19, 1945 Pete Gray realized his boyhood dream of playing in Yankee Stadium. On that date, he collected 5 hits and 2 RBI as the Browns swept the Yanks in a double header.