Alexander, Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland Alexander, byname Old Pete, (born February 26, 1887, Elba, Nebraska, U.S.—died November 4, 1950, St. Paul, Nebraska), American professional baseball player, one of the finest right-handed pitchers in the history of the game, frequently considered the greatest master of control. From 1911 to 1930 he won 373 major league games and lost 208. Alexander pitched for three National League (NL) teams during his major league career: the Philadelphia Phillies (1911–17, 1930), the Chicago Cubs (1918–26), and the St. Louis Cardinals (1926–29).

Alexander grew up on a farm, where his daily labours helped him develop the strength and endurance that were to become hallmarks of his pitching. He defied his father’s wishes that he study law and instead took a job as a telephone lineman so he could play baseball on the weekends. In 1909 Alexander began playing semiprofessionally, and his stellar pitching drew the attention of the Phillies, who brought him to the major leagues in 1911.

Alexander, Grover Cleveland

In his first season Alexander won a league-leading 28 games. In his first seven seasons the workhorse pitcher led the NL in innings pitched six times and in complete games five times. In 1915 he won the first of three career pitching Triple Crowns—the others came in 1916 and 1920—by topping the league in earned run average (1.22), strikeouts (241), and wins (31) as he helped the Phillies capture the first NL pennant in their team history. For three consecutive years (1915–17) he won 30 or more games; in 1916, when he achieved 33 victories, 16 were shutouts, a major league record. (His career total of 90 shutouts is second only to Walter Johnson’s 110.) Fearing that they would lose Alexander to the army once the United States entered World War I, the Phillies traded him to the Cubs after the 1917 season.

Not only did Alexander miss the majority of the1918 season because of wartime service, but, as a result of his time at the front, he lost hearing in one ear, began experiencing epileptic seizures, and developed a drinking problem. Barring his standout Triple-Crown-winning 1920 season, Alexander’s postwar pitching was of a decidedly lower quality. Cubs management grew weary of his alcoholism over the years and traded him to their rivals in St. Louis early in the 1926 season. However, the most dramatic performance of Alexander’s career came in the 1926 World Series. In the seventh and deciding game, he came in as a relief pitcher in the seventh inning with the Cardinals leading the New York Yankees 3 to 2 and with the bases loaded. With two out, he struck out future Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri. He then pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to clinch the title for the Cardinals. Alexander spent three more seasons with the Cardinals and one with the Phillies before he was released in 1930. He then played for the House of David team (a team fielded by a communal Christian religious sect) until 1935.

Alexander’s alcoholism worsened after he left the sport, and he spent his last years in reduced circumstances. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938.