The Winning Team (1952)

Poor health and alcoholism force Grover Cleveland Alexander out of baseball, but through his wife's faithful efforts, he gets a chance for a comeback and redemption.

Director:

Lewis Seiler

Writers:

Ted Sherdeman (screenplay), Seeleg Lester (screenplay),

Stars:

Doris Day, Ronald Reagan, Frank Lovejoy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Doris Day	...	Aimee Alexander
Ronald Reagan	...	Grover Cleveland Alexander
Frank Lovejoy	...	Rogers Hornsby
Eve Miller	...	Margaret Killefer
James Millican	...	Bill Killefer
Russ Tamblyn	...	Willie Alexander (as Rusty Tamblyn)
Gordon Jones	...	George Glasheen
Hugh Sanders	...	Joe McCarthy
Frank Ferguson	...	Sam Arrants
Walter Baldwin	...	Pa Alexander
Dorothy Adams	...	Ma Alexander
Bob Lemon	...	Jesse 'Pop' Haines
Jerry Priddy	...	Ballplayer
Peanuts Lowery	...	Ballplayer (as Peanuts Lowrey)
George Metkovich	...	Ballplayer

Storyline

In 1911, Grover Cleveland Alexander - Alex to his friends - is a Nebraska country hayseed who says he wants to settle down, marry his girlfriend Aimee Arrants and be a farmer to offer Aimee a secure and stable life. However he always seems to drop everything whenever the opportunity to play baseball, specifically as a pitcher, arises. This focus on baseball does not sit well with either Aimee or her father, who see it as Alex solely wanting to have fun while shirking responsibility. When Alex is asked to pitch in a game against a visiting professional team, he seizes the chance and throws a three hitter en route to winning the game. That leads to a stint on that pro team, the money from which he promises to use to buy Aimee her farm. When an eye injury seems to end his career even before it begins, he changes his focus to being a farmer to please his now wife Aimee Alexander, but thoughts of baseball that can never be in his life still torture him. When his injury does eventually heal...

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | comeback | farming | baseball coach | baseball pitcher | 

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Taglines:

And here comes the pitch, Yes, the pitch, the pitch for the warmest, most wonderful, most human story ever told, the true story of Grover Cleveland Alexander!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 June 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Big League

Filming Locations:

Wrigley Field - 42nd Place & Avalon Blvd., Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening credits show Grover Cleveland Alexander's plaque at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. It is accurate in all respects except one: it shows Ronald Reagan's likeness instead of the real Grover Cleveland Alexander.

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Goofs

The fans are shown giving a loud, enthusiastic standing ovation to Alexander for his pitching heroics in the 1926 World Series. However, the games that Alexander won in the 1926 World Series were played in Yankee Stadium, meaning that the fans were rooting for the Yankees, not the Cardinals. The fans were stunned when Babe Ruth was caught stealing at second to end the Series - not just because of the way it ended, but because their team had lost to a team it had been heavily favored to beat.

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Quotes

Grover Cleveland Alexander: You must be so tired, Dear!
Aimee Alexander: Why should I be tired?
Grover Cleveland Alexander: I've been stealing strength from you all season - every game, every pitch. Without you there, I couldn't have done any of it. God must think a lot of me. He's given me you.

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Connections

Featured in Diamonds on the Silver Screen (1992)

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Soundtracks

"Ol' Saint Nicholas"
(uncredited)
Written by Inez James and Buddy Pepper
Sung by Doris Day at the Christmas gathering

User Reviews

The first half of this film is reasonably true--the second differs greatly from reality.

When film began, Grover Cleveland Alexander was a teenager--while Ronald Reagan was almost 40! singing?! This is a biopic about the career of one of the greatest pitchers in major league history, Grover Cleveland Alexander. If you look at the man's statistics, they are staggeringly impressive. Because of this and Alexander's later medical issues, it's not at all surprising they made this film. What is rather surprising, however, is that they chose Ronald Reagan to play the man. When the film began, he was supposed to be a very young man--while Reagan was nearly 40! He did fine in the role, however.

The first half of the film sticks reasonably close to the facts. If anything, it underplayed the greatness of the man (such as not even mentioning his three consecutive 30 win seasons and winning the triple-crown three times). However, around the middle of the film, the story gets hokey--and deviates very far from the truth. While Alexander did have problems with epilepsy and alcohol following his stint in WWI, the film made it look like his life and career fell apart. It also shows him being out of major league ball for some time until he cleaned himself up--but this just isn't true. He never had a losing season and still had excellent statistics until his final season in ball (when he was 43)--and the lengthy downward spiral in the film just never happened. With a career record of 373 and 208, he clearly was no bum! Overall, "The Winning Team" is a highly enjoyable and highly inaccurate and sensationalized film. While I do recommend it (it's well made and interesting), it seems sad that a great man's life was so distorted just to see a few extra tickets. But, that was pretty common for Hollywood during this era.