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Grover Alexander

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

Grover Alexander is one of the former baseball players who hold the honor of being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938. Grover was born on February 26, 1887 at the Elba city of Nebraska. His full name is Grover Cleveland Alexander and was a major league pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals baseball teams.

The Philadelphia Phillies team acquired Alexander for 750 dollars contract during the 1911 season. As a rookie, he led the National League with 28 wins, 31 complete games, 367 innings pitched and 7 shutouts. Four of the shutouts were consecutive including one 1-0 win over Young, then in his final season. Grover's finest stint was in Philadelphia from 1911 to 1917, despite a right field wall in the Baker Bowl that was only 272 feet from home plate. He won 190 games, won 30 or more three straight years, and led the National League in every important pitching statistic at least once.

Grover’s most famous victim was Tony Lazzeri of the Yankees. In the seventh inning of the final game of the 1926 World Series, with the Cardinals leading by 3-2 mark, the Yankees had two out and the bases loaded. He won two games, including a complete game the day before and on four knee high pitches, he struck out Lazzeri, then pitched two more hitless innings to wrap up the World Championship.

After his 1926 heroics, Grover got his best contract ever and responded with 21 wins in 1927, but he was 40 years old by then. After leaving the majors, he pitched in demeaning circumstances with touring teams until he was 51. He retired believing his 373 wins placed him one ahead of Christy Mathewson for the most career National League victories. Besides being a feared slugger, he was renowned as a superior fielder, revolutionizing play at shortstop.

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