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I Ofover Cleveland Alexander blames the automobile ftrid the | movies for the unmlataklable decline in baseball.“There's not getting away from the fact that the kids aren’t play- ing 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.I Alexander's report, after, four I 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 s it has the minors, he fears that the standard of play never again will be as high as it was during his 20-year stay in the National league.* * *Didrikson for AlexanderAlexander rather enjoys his long bus ride each season with a team allegedly representing the religious colony at Benton Harbor, Mich. | There are two of these squads booked by Hay 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 r-tcher.Old Pete was the star of the far western outfit a year-ago, and Babe Didrikson, the women’s Olympic star, being signed - replace him in the spring. Illustrates to what extent promoters have to go nowadays to f -g the customers th-ough the bas. ’’ * **+Tea.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 3 House of David chin adornment.3 I couldn’t wear those whisker®, 3 said Alex. I didn’t need whiskers 5 when I was good.1 Alexander, now 47, believes he 1 still could win in a AA league.“On my control alone, he ex-f plained, and I can pour that old convincer through there now and i 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 advantage of having no pennant to worry about.Alexander pitches at least one inning nightly, as well as taking his turn when games are booked in the afternoon, And still exhibits the easy motLn 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 hs dropped into Navin field, Detroit, to see his old friend, Rogers Hornsby. He’s - great admirer of the boss of the Browns.The only time X didn’t get along with Rog was when X 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 re-i ported, 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 imbided a bit too freely occasionally, '■•lt;% if I had continually nursed a bottle of whisky, I hardly would have stuck around for 20 years.My habits also were discussed when Joe McCarthy did me the i ' favor of shipping me from Chisago ' to Hornsby's pennant winners hat i j season, when the truth was that lour argument was cause I by my i j wanting to pitch to Travis Jack-i son, of the Giants, one way, and he another.“I pitched McCarthy's way, and Jackson hit the lpall out of thepark.
Newspaper Details
Freeport Journal Standard
Freeport, Illinois, US
Sat, Jul 14, 1934
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael W.
NA, 28 Jul 2023
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