A native Detroiter, Gray was a star pitcher at Highland Park High School. He signed with the Tigers in 1942 at age 17 and played the 1942 season with Winston-Salem in the Piedmont League, posting a 13–14 record and a 2.04 ERA. He briefly joined the Tigers at the end of the 1942 season but did not play.\n', '

Gray enlisted in the Navy when he turned 18 after the 1942 season. Gray was assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station where he pitched for the Great Lakes team managed by Mickey Cochrane. Tigers pitchers Schoolboy Rowe and Dizzy Trout also pitched for Cochrane\'s star-studded Great Lakes team. Gray was transferred to the New Hebrides in the Pacific Theater, where he continued pitching for the Navy. He won 12 straight games and averaged 17 strikeouts per game in his Navy career. In January 1945, he pitched for the Navy All Stars. He lost his first game against the Army All Stars 3–1 despite striking out 19 batters. In three games against the Army All Stars, Gray had a 1–2 record and a remarkable 46 strikeouts. After the series, The Sporting News reported: "You can’t tell any of the fellows in this war sector that when peace is restored, Ted Gray won’t match the records of Grove, Hubbell, Pennock, Newhouser and the other great lefthanders [sic]." (The Sporting News, February 22, 1945.)\n', '

After the war, Gray played with Buffalo before joining the Tigers for a brief stay in 1946. He pitched only three games in the Major Leagues in 1946 (an 0–2 record) and was returned to the minors where he spent the balance of the 1946 season and the entire 1947 season. Gray returned to the Tigers in 1948, posting a record of 6–2.\n', '

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