Negray began his 15-year pro career in 1949 in the Brooklyn farm system, winning 21 games in the Class D Georgia–Florida League. His first taste of MLB service came at the tail end of the 1952 campaign, when the pennant-bound Dodgers recalled him from the Triple-A St. Paul Saints. Negray got into four games pitched, including one start, and allowed 15 hits and five earned runs in 13 full innings pitched. He then spent 2​1⁄2 more years with St. Paul, winning 17 games for the Saints in 1954. On June 7, 1955, he was recalled by the Dodgers and traded to the Phillies for fellow pitcher Dave Cole.\n', '

Inserted into the Phils\' starting rotation, Negray hurled seven shutout innings on June 19 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, surrendering only four hits and one base on balls before departing in the eighth inning. (The Phillies would go on to win 1–0 in 15 innings.) Negray was less effective in his next start five days later, permitting 11 hits and five earned runs in seven innings against the Cincinnati Redlegs at Crosley Field, but the Phillies outscored Cincinnati 8–6 to deliver Negray\'s first big-league win. In his third start on June 29, Negray notched his first complete game in MLB, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 6–3 at Connie Mack Stadium, giving up only two earned runs. He threw his second and last complete game two months later, defeating the Redlegs at Connie Mack Stadium, 8–3. All told, in his half-season with the Phillies, Negray won four of seven decisions in 19 games almost evenly split between starting and relieving.\n', '

The following year, 1956, was Negray\'s only full season in the majors. He worked in 39 games, all but four of them in relief, and earned three saves out of the Phillie bullpen. He posted a 2–3 record and his earned run average rose from 3.52 to 4.19. During spring training in 1957, he was traded back to the Dodgers in a six-player transaction that brought shortstop Humberto "Chico" Fernández to Philadelphia. The Dodgers, playing their final season in Brooklyn, sent Negray back to St. Paul for the remainder of 1957. Negray was destined to be a member of the first edition of the Los Angeles Dodgers, however.\n', '

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