Grover Cleveland Alexander even today one of the best pitchers of all-time.
| 3
|
I am now a writer, too old for that stuff, and besides it takes me a very long time to write these stories down. My age may have something to do with it but I try to just as my grandfather us to say write'm as a remember them or something along those lines.
During the off season after the a 1930 Baseball year, my grandmother then in her 70's use to have a huge winter type gathering of friends and family and believe me there was a lot of family and even more friends. My father's parents had a really large farm in northern Virginia and they raised all kinds of vegetables, fruits, and animals and ever year she would slaughter a big pig sometimes over 300 lbs and we would dig a pit and roast it for hours and then the fun would begin. Well, this year was different than most because there was lots of baseball players down for that weekend and some stayed even longer to hunt and fish with me and dad and grandpa. Grover Cleveland Alexander was a often visitor at the farm and this year he was with Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, Shoeless Joe Jackson who was always coming over to say hello to my father and me, Mel Ott and a young man by the name of James Fox who I remember had arms like a truck driver or lumbermen. Anyway, this particular year I was just turning 12 years old and the reason this sticks with me more than other years is this was the time that I got all kinds of one on one with Grover and the boys because he was attempting to teach me how to pitch a baseball.
Even at 12 I was a large boy, bigger than most of my cousins the same age and as my grandfather use to put it strong as a ox and bigger than a bear. I was almost 6' and weight in at about 180, even today at 88 I still have a 54 inch chest size for my coats and jackets and my arms from doing all the chores grew as I grew big. Grover spend a lot of time trying to teach me to pitch the ball instead of throw it. I could put the ball through the barn door but didn't know where it was going to go. I remember playing caught with Walter Johnson and he throwing the ball hard and fast and now I can still feel how it hurt when I didn't caught it right in the glove I used. My dad was a fair pitcher and catcher in his younger days and in the mornings all of us would play a batter in box make believe game. My first memories of standing in the box with Walter Johnson pitching to me at 12 years makes my knees sink. My father was calling for a fastball up and in from Johnson to see if I would move out of the way or swing at a bad pitch. Needless to say as soon as I saw it was coming up and in I got the hell out of the way. I don't really think he was pitching as fast as he could to me but the memory of him leaning over the mound and looking at me with his glare is even today very clear.
Grover was always laughing at my grandfathers' jokes and some of the things he use to say about some of the managers in the big league and owners that he didn't like. Grover always showed me how to hold the baseball to throw the pitches that he threw and would always correct me when I would do it wrong and didn't stride toward the plate right or keep my balance the proper way. We would practice for hours when he came over but no matter who told me what I really never got the ball to go where I wanted it too. I learned so many things from Grover besides baseball. He was a very quite individual unless he knew you and it would take him time to open up about his playing days and he never talked about the problems that he went through to me, so that is something I can't comment on. Although later on I was told some of what had happened to him by Rogers Hornsby who to me was one of the funniest players that even stayed over at the farm.
During that winter I got to really know lots of major league players and what they were really like. Everyone talks about Cobb being a asshole but believe me when it came to pitching Johnson was one real strong individual and didn't take anykind of crap from anyone. Rogers Hornsby told me what he loved about both Johnson and Alexander is when they were pitching they owned the plate and you didn't come into their territory without believing it. Grover wasn't one to stick one in your ear but on the other hand Johnson, not know as a in your ear pitcher, would back down from someone standing over his plate.
I was real fun to watch Hornsby stand in the box and hit pitches from Johnson, Grove and Alexander. My grandfather loved to play in these pickup games and even at his age late 70's he could hit the ball with a lot of authority on it and when he really got ahold of one I can still hear him give it to them about even an old man can hit their stuff. Grover Cleveland even today must be considered one of the best of all time either right or left handed. His statistics put him at or near the top. He won the era crown 4 times and his lifetime era is 2.56 with 373 wins and 90 shutouts. He died in 1950 when I was only 32 years old but I stayed in touch with him up until he became very sick by letters. After the war my father went back to St.Paul Neb to see him and he asked how the family was getting along like it was only yesterday he had seen us.
What he did in his pitching years was amazing and considering the problems he had with his personal life it is even more amazing. He was truly a great pitcher and did things during his major league career that I don't think will ever be equaled. Today's pitchers have it really easy compared to yesteryear's pitchers. They didn't ice down the arms, use steriods or other helping drugs and pitched even when it hurt or they would really to pitch. The 1926 World Series will go down forever as a testiment to Grover Cleveland Alexander outstanding and unbelieveable ability. He did things that weren't equaled by any pitcher until almost 40 years later when Koufax beat the Twins with only one pitch his fastball. I look at both of these pitchers as two of the best to play the game. Sandy only played 9 years and had to leave the game because of injuries to his arm and health and Alexander pitched under some conditions and personal situations for years and left the game as one of the greatest to ever walk onto the pitchers' mound.
