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By Harry GRAYSONGrover Cleveland Alexander blames the automobile and the movies for ithe unmistakable decline in base-bail.fThere’s no getting away from the fact that the kids aren’t playing the game as much as they used to,” the renowned pitcher told me when I bumped into him. and his hairy House of David team at Erie, Pa., the other night.Alexander’s report, after four years of touring, from coast to coast and from Canada to the gulf, reveals why major league clubs cannot obtain suitable athletes from the minors for love or money.“Too many amusements and too convenient transportation,” asserted old Pete. “When I was a boy at St. Paul, Neb., there was no way of ; jumping over to the next town to see what was going on there. You had to stay put, and we played baseball because we liked to.’’While Alexander does not believe Young America's turning away from the sport ever will affect the big show as it has the minors, lie fears that the standard of play never again will be as high as it was during his 20-year stay in the National Leaiue.said Alex. “I didn’t need whiskers when I was good.”Alexander, now 47,. believes he still could win in a AA league.“On my control alone,' he explained, “and I can pour that old convincer through there now and then.But he declared he was receiving a better straight salary than that contained in any one of a dozen offers, and pointed out the advantages of having no pennant to worry! about. jAlexander pitches at least one inning nightly, as well as taking hisB,yhiekDidrikson for AlexanderAlexander rather enjoys his long bus ride each season with a teamturn when games are booked in the afternoon. And still exhibits the easy motion that accounted for 373 major league victories, with 16 shutouts for the Phillies in 1916—a National League record.His Biggest MomentAlexander recently saw his first major league game in two years when he dropped into Navin Field,allegedly representing the religiousf Detroit, to see his old friend, Rog-colony at Benton Harbor, Mich. There are two of these squads booked by Ray Doan, of Muscatine, la. Alexander Is the show window of the eastern division this term. He has company in Earl Smith, the former Pittsburgh, New York and St. Louis catcher.Old Pete was the star ol the farreaosISle;d:e8amsePt’is3.ieesLcers Hornsby. He’s a great admirer of the boss of the Browns.“The only time I didn’t get along with Rog was when I pitched to him,” he beamed.It was Hornsby who gave him the office to take that long and highly dramatic shuffle across the field, with the bases loaded in the seventh inning of the final world series game between the Yankees and Cardinals in 1926.As you might suspect, Alex lists his striking out Tony Lazzeri in that setup as his greatest thrill.“And I wasn’t soused the night before, as it so generally was reported,” Alexander, who now drinks nothing stronger than lager, went on. As a matter of fact, I slept in a twin bed next to Hornsby.I might have imbibed a bit toovvV,aiS1aitctlF*h:i*'western outfit a year ago, and Babe Didrikson, the women’s Olympic starsbeing signed to replace him in the , .UBT,“ T ?**iiwvota* freely occasionally, but if r had continually nursed a bottle of whisky, I hardly would have stuck around forspring, illustrates to what extent promoters have to go nowadays to drag the customers through the baseball turnstiles.“Babe Didrikson and mules, remarked Alex. Donkey baseball is played as a sideshow to the House of David games. .Alexander, Smith, and a shortstop named Moulder are the only members of the eastern array not decorated with the regulation House of David chin adornment.I couldn't wear those whiskers,”it'20 years.My habits also were discussed when Joe McCarthy did me the favor of shipping me from Chicago to Hornsby’s pennant winners that season, when the truth was that our argument was caused by my wanting to pitch to Travis Jackson, of the Giants, one way, and he another.“I pitched McCarthy’s way, and Jackson hit the ball out of the park.lorfe:8!tlhatiITPn:o:bf
Newspaper Details
Jefferson City Post Tribune
Jefferson City, Missouri, US
Fri, Jul 13, 1934
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael W.
NA, 19 Jan 2023
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