Hide Article Text (OCR)
Grover Cleveland Alexander in Interview on Past and PresentCHICAGO, (UP).—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 whiskers, anyone who had seen him from the time he broke in with the Phillies in 1911 until hepitched his last game in the National league in 1930 would have iramedi-ately recognized him.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.When he came in to 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 bewisker-ed players touring the “kerosenecircuit’’ in a bus.His arm may have lost most of its cunning and his legs may have gone back on him, but the name Grover Cleveland Alexander still is 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 184 games and Alexander pitched in more than half of them. They’ve played about 115 this year, and he’s been in 90 of them.“How do you like this life?”“This is tougher than playing in the big leagues,” he replied. “There everything’s arranged for you, you live first-class and you don’t have to do nothing but play ball. The poordiamonds, the hostile crowds, the partial umpire®, and bad accommodations and everything like that make this pretty tough.”Asked if he thought he would have lasted longer if he had never imbibed, Alex replied:“I don’t see how I could of. If 1 had my career to live over 1 would do just about the same. 1 used to lose 4 or 5 pounds pitching a game and I wasn’t any big strong fellow.I had to get that weight back, and I used to have a few drinks to do it.”
Newspaper Details
Fort Madison Evening Democrat
Fort Madison, Iowa, US
Mon, Aug 22, 1932
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael W.
NA, 29 Apr 2023
Other Publications Near Fort Madison, Iowa
Fort Madison Weekly Democrat
Fort Madison Daily Democrat
Fort Madison News
Standard Atlas of Lee County Iowa
An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Lee County Iowa
