Jim Ray

James Francis Ray
(Sting)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lb.
• High School Holly High School
• Debut September 16, 1965
• Final Game September 30, 1974
• Born December 1, 1944 in Rock Hill, SC USA
• Died May 26, 2005 in Margate, FL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Jim Ray had considerable success as a pitcher in the major leagues. Coming up at age 20, he was with the Houston Astros for eight seasons and the Detroit Tigers for one. In his best year, he was 10-4 with 3 saves and a 2.12 ERA for the Astros in 1971.

Jim was born in Rock Hill, SC and began in the minors at age 18 in 1963 in the Houston Colt .45s organization, the team that would be ne-ramed the Astros a couple of years later. He had most of three seasons in the minors before coming to the big leagues. In 1963 and 1965 in the minors his ERA was around 2.70. He was primarily a starter in the minors, and was also mostly a starter during his first stint in the majors in 1965.

Most of 1966 and 1967 were spent in the minors, much of it with the Oklahoma City 89ers. He had only one appearance in the big leagues during that time, in 1966, and in that appearance he faced only one batter.

However, he spent all of 1968 with the Astros, and was up to stay. Although he had 13 starts (out of 40 appearances) in 1969, he was mostly a reliever for the rest of his big league career. He spent the 1974 season with Detroit, his only one in the American League. In 1975 and 1976 he was back in the minors for a total of 10 games with the Chicago White Sox and finally back in the Astros organizations.

Although Jim Ray died in 2005, his passing went unreported in baseball circles until 2013.