Pete Alexander

Grover Cleveland Alexander
Pitcher
Born: February 26th, 1887 Elba , United States
Died on: November 4, 1950 St. Paul , United States
Suggested: Right	Threw: Right
Debut in Major League Baseball
April 15,  1911  with the  Philadelphia Phillies
Last MLB assignment
May 28,  1930  with the  Philadelphia Phillies
MLB statistics (until end of career)
Win-loss	373-208
ERA	2.56
Strikeouts	2,198
Teams
Philadelphia Phillies (1911-1917) Chicago Cubs (1918-1926) St. Louis Cardinals (1926-1929) Philadelphia Phillies (1930)
Awards
3 × NL Pitcher's Triple Crown (1915, 1916, 1920) World Series Winner ( 1926 )
member of
Baseball Hall of Fame
Recorded	1938
Quota	80.92%

Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander (born February 26, 1887 in Elba , Nebraska , † November 4, 1950 in St. Paul , Nebraska) was an American baseball player in Major League Baseball . His nickname was Old Pete .

Life

Alexander began his career in semi-professional baseball leagues in 1907. There he had some ups and downs and did not stabilize until the 1910 season. In 1911 he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies for $ 750. The right-handed thrower made his debut in the National League on April 15, 1911. In his first season, the rookie got 28 wins, a record for rookies in the major leagues, 31 complete games, 367 innings thrown and 7 shutouts. One of those shutouts was a 1-0 win against Cy Young last season. By 1917 he had won 190 games in Philadelphia, a third of his team's victories during that time, and had three seasons from 1915 to 1917 with at least 30 wins each. During these three years he was also able to secure the Triple Crown in pitching, i. that is, he led the league in the three most important statistics (ERA, wins and strikeouts). He is the only MLB player to have done this three years in a row. In 1915 he was able to celebrate winning the National League title with the Phillies, but they were defeated by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series .

Pete Alexander's plaque in the Hall of Fame

In 1918 the Phillies sold him to the Chicago Cubs . He spent a large part of the 1918 season as an artillery officer in France during World War I. He sustained several injuries during the war. Alexander had always been prone to alcoholism, which intensified after the war. He also performed well for the Cubs, so he was able to win another Triple Crown in 1920, which did not come close to his heyday in Philadelphia.

When the Cubs had enough of his drinking problems, they sold him to the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1926 season . The Cardinals won the National League that season and played in the World Series against the New York Yankees . Alexander was able to win games 2 and 6 of the series for the Cardinals, so the decision had to fall in the seventh game. The Cardinals led 3-2 in the seventh inning, the Yankees had loaded the bases with two players and Tony Lazzeri came to the stroke. Pete Alexander was used as a substitute thrower and was able to make Lazzeri in four throws. Two more innings with no points for Alexander's Yankees then secured the Cardinals victory and triumph in the World Series. In 1927, at the age of 40, he managed another season with 20 wins and the title win in the National League, but in the World Series the Yankees retained the upper hand. In 1930 he returned to the Phillies again, but could no longer perform as usual due to his age and unsound lifestyle. On May 28, 1930 he played his last game in the National League. After that he still played for wandering baseball teams. With 373 wins and 90 shutouts, Pete Alexander still holds current records in the NL.

In 1938 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame . He died in 1950 at the age of 63. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 12th of the Top 100 Baseball Players of All Time.

reception

In 1952, The Winning Team by director Lewis Seiler , a partially fictionalized biopic about Alexander's life, appeared. Ronald Reagan impersonated the alcoholic comeback player, while Doris Day played his wife.

Web links

Commons : Grover Cleveland Alexander  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Player information and statistics from Baseball Reference  or  Fangraphs  or  The Baseball Cube (English)
• Biography of Grover Cleveland Alexander (English)
• Grover Cleveland Alexander in the Hall of Fame (English)