Flipping through the dial last night when I cam across Ronald Reagan starring as Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander in The Winning Team, a 1952 bio-pic.
Alexander played from 1911-1930 and pitched in the 1915, ’26, and ’28 World Series, the last two as an elder member of the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s particularly noted for striking out Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in the seventh inning of the last game to give the Cards a 3-2 win.
You can watch the film’s trailer here.
Like many films of this kind, it’s the story of success, followed by failure, followed by redemption. The dialog is a it hokey (never really liked Doris Day, who played Mrs. Alexander, that much).
A few things struck me as odd: for one thing, the film incorporated actual baseball footage, no doubt gleaned from newsreels. But they played fast and loose with the timelines, using footage from games that seemed to have occurred in the 1940s, judging by the uniforms. (Then again, Ray Liotta played Shoeless Joe Jackson as a righty and without a South Carolina accent…).
In addition, the hold baseball had on the country in those days seems unbelievable. Towards the end, Day (who naturally gets to sing in the film), is on her way to the train station where she will meet her husband after the final game of the ’26 Series. But the streets are so crowded with fans watching the scoreboards erected in the heart of Manhattan, it’s difficult to find and cab and traverse through the roads. When she discovers that Old Alex is on the mound, she has the driver take her to “the Yankee Stadium,” as it was called in those days, urging him to drive faster, despite the traffic jams. More amazingly, everyone seems to recognize her and is willing to bend over backwards to help here, even though her husband is on the opposing team. Ah, Hollywood.
Also missing — and this was acknowledged by host Robert Osborne — Warner Brothers did not want pitcher’s actual ailment — epilepsy — mentioned in the movie. They’d rather have the audience believe the athlete was plagued by alcoholism and neurological damage caused by blow to the head by an errant baseball.
Several ballplayers appeared in the film, including Bob Lemon, Peanuts Lowery, George Metkovich and Jerry Priddy.
As old-fashioned as films like The Winning Team or The Pride of the Yankees It’s difficult for younger, more media savvy people, to realize the impact of the movies prior to the widespread availability of television.
WalkoffWalk has a marvelous assessment of the film, with several stills.
is available on Amazon.com,
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