Grover Cleveland Alexander

Early life

Grover Cleveland Alexander was one of eight children born to William and Martha Alexander in Elba, Nebraska. His father, a Democrat, chose the name Grover Cleveland because the future pitcher was born during the first term of President Grover Cleveland, also a Democrat. Alexander went to school in Elba and St. Paul, graduating from St. Paul High School in 1909.

After that, he dug postholes for the Howard County Telephone Company. He played semi-pro baseball and signed his first professional deal at 20 in 1907 for $50 a month. In 1909, pitching for the Galesburg Boosters, he posted a 15-8 record with a 1.36 ERA.

While running the bases, a thrown ball hit him, nearly ending his career and cutting short his 1909 season. He bounced back in 1910, becoming a star for the Syracuse Stars with a 29-11 record. The Philadelphia Phillies then bought his contract for $750.

Major League Baseball career

Grover Cleveland Alexander first pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies in a preseason game on March 11, 1911, a 3-4 loss to the Birmingham Barons at Rickwood Field. A few weeks later, on April 6, he held the Athletics hitless for five innings at Shibe Park during the City Series. His official Major League debut came on April 15. That season, catcher Bill Killefer joined the Phillies and became Alexander's preferred battery mate, catching 250 of his games.

As a rookie, Alexander led the league with 28 wins, a modern-day rookie record, along with 31 complete games, 367 innings pitched, and seven shutouts, while ranking second in strikeouts and fourth in ERA. Between 1912 and 1921, he topped the National League in ERA four times, wins five times, innings six times, strikeouts six times, complete games five times, and shutouts five times. He captured the National League pitching Triple Crown in 1915, 1916, and 1920, with some crediting him with a fourth in 1917.

In 1915, he guided the Phillies to their first pennant and won his only Major League triple crown. During this stretch, Alexander began struggling with alcohol, a problem that haunted him for the rest of his life.

After the 1917 season, the Phillies traded Alexander and Killefer to the Chicago Cubs for catcher Pickles Dillhoefer, pitcher Mike Prendergast, and $55,000. Following America's entry into World War I, Alexander was drafted into the Army. One month before shipping out, he married Aimee Marie Arrant on May 31 in a courthouse ceremony in Manhattan, Kansas.

Later life and legacy

Grover Cleveland Alexander spent the late 1930s and early 1940s on the road as a player-coach for a team bearing his own name, the House of David squad. J. L. Wilkinson handled the tour management, and the club frequently faced the Kansas City Monarchs. Alexander shared the field with Negro league standouts like Satchel Paige, John Donaldson, Newt Joseph, Chet Brewer, and Andy Cooper, playing both alongside and against them. On July 25, 1932, he came back to Philadelphia’s National League Park with the House of David team for a game against a group of Philadelphia All-Stars, and the crowd gave him a warm ovation when he stepped up to the plate.

Once Prohibition ended, he ran a tavern in St. Louis with Hughie Miller as his business partner. The Hall of Fame inducted him in 1938, its third year of existence, making him the sole player chosen that season. During the Great Depression in 1939, a news item reported that Alexander was giving lectures in New York at a Gotham Flea Circus. He took in Game 3 of the 1950 World Series at Yankee Stadium, watching the Phillies fall to the Yankees.

Less than a month later, on November 4, he died in St. Paul, Nebraska, at 63, and was laid to rest in Elmwood Cemetery there. The 1952 film The Winning Team, starring Ronald Reagan, told his story. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 12th on its list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and he was a finalist for the MLB All-Century Team. The Phillies retired the block-letter “P” from their 1915 uniforms in 2001 to honor his legacy.

Nicknames

Newspapers often used his full name, Grover Cleveland Alexander, and sometimes just "Alec." After big successes like the 1926 World Series, he was called "Alexander the Great." During the 1910s, his dominance led many players and writers to call him "the best pitcher to ever put on a pair of shoes." His famous nickname "Old Pete" started as "Alkali Pete," a mashup of silent film characters Alkali Ike and Mustang Pete.

While hunting in Texas with Bill Killefer, Alexander's dusty look made Killefer call him "Alkali Pete," and it stuck. A watch engraved with that nickname, given to him before he went to war, shows it existed by 1918. By the late 1920s, it had shortened to "Old Pete." How often he was called that publicly during his career is unclear.

A newspaper used "old Pete" when he won his 373rd game on August 10, 1929. His 1940 Playball baseball card listed him as "Ol' Pete." Among family friends back in Nebraska, he was known as "Dode."