Talking Sports: Remembering an old-time Nebraskan

Grover Cleveland Alexander was born, raised and died in Nebraska. If you’re a baseball fan with just a rudimentary knowledge of the game’s history you’ve heard of Alexander.

For some reason he was called “Ol Pete” in his day though nobody really knows why. Even when describing his exploits on the mound the Sidney Telegraph stories would refer to him occcassionally as Pete in one form or another.

He was on the hill for three games of the 1926 World Series between the New York Yankess and the St. Louis Cardinals. The ‘26 series was one of the more exciting series in the history of that championship, but seldom remembered today. About all that seems to be recalled of that contest is that the seventh game concluded when none other than the great Babe Ruth was thrown out attempting to steal.

Ruth later said he thought the move would surprise them. Maybe it did. It probably did. But he was still out by 10 feet.

If you lived in Sidney at the time you were probably rooting for the Cardinals. And you would’ve had no trouble keeping up with the action as the Telegraph reported on the series daily - on some occassions with front-page headlines.

Aside from being among the greats of all time, Alexander was a war hero of sorts. He didn’t single handedly take some hill to save the lives of dozens of fellow soldiers or wipe out an entire company of enemy combatants. But when summoned by his country for service in World War I, he answered.

Like many before and after, Alexander paid a heavy price in war - even, perhaps, if not so dear a price as millions of others. He served in France during “the war to end all wars” as a sergeant in an artillery unit. After being exposed to mustard gas he was prone to epileptic seizures the rest of his life. Already a drinker, his kinship with the bottle increased. Still, he returned to the States to continue - with much the same brilliance as before the war - to pitch in the major leagues.

Considered washed up, he was unceremoniously dumped for the waiver price in the middle of the 1926 season by the Chicago Cubs. The Cards took a chance on the 39-year-old “has been.” Perhaps Red Birds Manager Rogers Hornsby thought his experience might be a useful asset during the pennant drive that year. He was right.

In 1926 you could buy a new Ford Touring car for $469.22 at Sidney Motor Sales Co. If a Coupe was more your style $582.74 was the asking price. At J.B. Byars Co. in Sidney, Ladies Outing Gowns could be had for the measly sum of 98 cents to $1.95. Of course they “were light and very pretty.” Perhaps a little shopping could help you forget that the Sidney Maroons gridders scored not a single point in a 0-0 tie against the Bulldogs of Bridgeport.

Whether or not you noticed that you could get choice baby beef steak for 22 cents-per-pound at Sidney’s Central Market or not, you couldn’t miss the Telegraph’s headlines touting the exploits of Nebraska’s favorite son.

“Grover Cleveland Alexander, one of baseball’s old masters, unleashed the mighty power of his ancient right arm to pitch the Cardinals to victory over the Yankees Sunday in the second game of the World’s Series before the greatest crowd that ever saw a ball game,” gushed the Telegraph on Oct. 5, 1926.

As the Cardinals “clouted Urban Shocker, Yankee spitball ace,” Alexander was masterful in pitching a compete game 6-2 victory to even the series.

“The gray thatched, rawboned Alexander - ‘the man who was sold down the river’ late in the season as a Cub discard,” held the Yanks hitless over the final six innings. He struck out 10, yielded just four hits and held Ruth and Loug Gehrig to a combined 0-7.

Six days later the National Leaguer’s found themselves down 3 games to 2, and facing a must-win game in front of another packed house at Yankee Stadium. After one inning the Birds offense staked the grizzled veteran to a 3-0 lead. Turns out, that’s all he needed.

“The big baseball series is all even again because old Grover Cleveland Alexander stepped into a youthful role for the second time in a week and beat the Yankees Saturday,” touted the Telegraph. Though earlier in the series Ruth had broken seven series hitting records in a game in which he hit three whoppers, he failed to get out of the infield against Alexander in game six.

After two complete game victories Alexander had surely done all and more that could be expected of his “ancient arm.” While it was reported that Alexander had gotten drunk the night before game seven, what did it really matter. Certainly Hornsby would have no occassion to use him again.

But with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh inning and the Red Birds holding a precarious 3-2 lead in the deciding game, Hornsby found he could call on no other. Hornsby summoned the veteran for one more go. Facing a dangerous assignment against the sensational rookie Tony Lazerri, who would one day join Alexander in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the old man dug in against the powerful kid.

Though Lazerri drove a home-run distance foul ball on pitch two, Alexander ultimately finished him off with three strikes. Alexander came out again for the final two innings, with his only blemish being a walk to Ruth in the ninth. As the Telegraph put it, “The stalwart Nebraskan stepped into the breach, with already two victories behind him.” Of course, history more remembers what Ruth did in the final inning more so than what Alexander did.

Had Alexander been pitching in a modern series he would have earned a save for his game-seven performance. A series MVP Award would likely have come his way too. Had their been an MVP Award then, who knows, he may even have been awarded a $644.18 1927 Ford Fordor - with starter and baloon tires as standard equipment of course.