Steve Kraly, one of the Southern Tier's most beloved sports heroes has passed away at the age of 86.  Kraly, who lived in Johnson City, was a star pitcher for the Binghamton Triplets and went on to pitch in the Major Leagues with the New York Yankees.  Kraly was almost untouchable in 1953 when he went 19-2 pitching for the Triplets and was promoted to the parent Yankees in August of that year.  He was 0-2 with an ERA of 3.24 in five Big League games.  He lost both games to Cleveland with Bob Lemon going the distance each time for the Indians.

Following that season and battling health issues  he continued to play professional baseball through the 1960 season.  He was contacted by Casey Stengel to attend training camp with the New York Mets when they were established in 1962 but chose to stay with a job he had obtained with IBM and settled with his family in Johnson City.

The Whiting, Indiana native was the Official Scorer for Binghamton Mets games from their inception in 1992 through 2014.  He was inducted into the Binghamton Baseball Shrine in 1997 and will be inducted into the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame next month.

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