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sWriter Says Old Grover C. Alexander Looks Just As Hie Did When He Was World HeroBy GEORGE KIRKSEY,(United Press Staff Correspondent)CHICAGO, Aug. 22—He was batting grounders in infield practice when I walked into a ball park in the heart of Chicago’s black belt, where the House of David team was to play Cole's American Giants, a negro nine.Even if every other ball player on the field hadn’t been black or wore General Grant whtskers, anyone who had seen him from the time he broke in with the Phillies in 1911 until he pitched his last game in the National League In 1930would have Immediately recognizedhim.Was Real Champ.There never was but one Grover Cleveland Alexander.There he stood under the floodlights tossing up a ball and hitting it with a bat, the same tall, gaunt figure that graced a major league pitching mound for 20 years and left behind him the greatest record of any National League pitcher. In that span he won 373 and lost 208.Prom a distance he hasn’t changed much. He still wears his uniform sloppily and his cap perched on top of his head as If it were too small for him.45 Years OldWhen he came into the bench, he confessed to 45 last February, And In that stretch he’s been all the way up and down baseball’s scale. Six years ago he was a world series hero, and now the national game has reduced him to the level of a manager and pitcher for a tribe of bewhiskered players touring the kerosene circuit” in a bus.His arm may have lost most of its cunning and his legs may have gone back on him, but the name Grov;erCleveland Alexander is still a magnet to baseball fans. He's advertised to pitch in every game, and he usually goes in for an inning or two. Last year the House of David team played 184jkgames and Alexander pitched in more than half of them. They’ve played about 115 this year, and he’s been in 90 of them.Arm Gets Tired “Don't the old soupbone ever hurt you? he was asked.The strain of pitching night after night makes it get tired quick and I can't last more’n two or three innings,” he said. I think, though.if I got my legs In shape and had the proper rest I could go theroute once a week.“How do you like this life?”This Is tougher than playing in the big leagues,” he replied.look His Time.Eventually we got to talking about the time he came in to pitch in the 1928 world series with the basesfilled, fanned Lazzeri and pitched the Cardinals into the world championship. It has been written and said he was tipsy when he came into the box that day.“I wasn’t no more drunk than them sport writers who started that,” Alex said. I took my time and just kind of mosied in because I knew the longer it took me to get to the box the more nervous a youngster like Lazzeri would be.” Asked if he thought lie would have lasted if he had never imbibed, Alex replied:“I don’t see how I could of. If I had my career to live over I would do Just about the same. I used to lose 4 to 5 pounds pitching a game and I wasn’t any big strong fellow.I had to get trat weight bark, and T used to have a few drinks to do it.”
Newspaper Details
Amarillo Globe
Amarillo, Texas, US
Mon, Aug 22, 1932
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael W.
NA, 21 Jan 2023
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