Dale Alexander
From SoSH
| Born: | Apr 26, 1903 |
| Birthplace: | Greeneville, TN |
| Hometown: | |
| Height: | 6' 3" |
| Weight: | 210 |
| Bats: | Right |
| Throws: | Right |
| Drafted: | |
| College: | Milligan College, Tusculum College |
| High School: | |
| Other Teams: | Detroit 1929-1932 |
| Years with Boston: | 1932-1933 |
Contents |
Overall Career
David Dale "Moose" Alexander was born on April 26, 1903, in Greeneville, TN. He began playing pro ball in 1924 for his hometown club in the Appalachian League. Moose hit .300 or better for five straight minor league seasons, including a .380 average and a batting crown with Toronto of the International League in 1928.
Alexander was 25 years old when he reached the big leagues on April 16, 1929, with the Detroit Tigers. A large, lumbering man and slow afoot, his defensive play at first base and in the outfield was a liability, but his bat was potent enough to make him an everyday fixture in the lineup.
Alexander broke in with a bang. Batting cleanup, his first homer came April 21 off Detroit reliever Chad Kimsey. Dale wound up hitting .343 with 25 homers, 15 triples and 43 doubles while driving in 137 runs, scoring 110 and slugging .580. He led the American League with 215 hits, and he ranked 10th in batting average, 5th in slugging, doubles and homers, 4th in triples, and 3rd in RBI. Had the Rookie of the Year award existed, Alexander would have won in a landslide.
1930 was a decent season for Alexander, but his power numbers fell off to 20 HR, 8 triples and 33 doubles. While his average remained high (.326), his slugging percentage dropped 73 points.
In 1931, Moose began to look more like a mouse at the plate. Though he hit .325 with 47 doubles, he hit 3 measly home runs and just as many triples to slug .445. He did draw 64 walks, which actually gave him a higher OBP (.401) than he'd logged during his stellar 1929 campaign (.397).
After a dismal start in 1932, missing 27 games and going just 4-for-16 with no extra base hits, the Tigers lost patience and traded Alexander him to the Red Sox on June 12 along with Roy Johnson in exchange for Earl Webb. Moose got his act together quickly, and hit .372 the rest of the way to claim the American League batting crown, edging Jimmie Foxx by 3 points. He also walked 55 walks for a .454 OBP, and struck out just 19 times in 432 plate appearances. Alexander tied for 10th in the AL MVP balloting, and all 9 players finishing ahead of him wound up in the Hall of Fame.
But the power in his bat was nearly gone -- 8 HR, 3 triples and 27 doubles in 376 AB. The following year he was even worse, with 5 homers, a triple and 15 doubles in 313 AB, and his batting average falling by 91 points to .281. Much of the dropoff was due to a knee injury he sustained May 30 while sliding into home plate in the second game of a twinbill against the Philadelphia Athletics. The diathermy treatment he received in the clubhouse was a disaster, as Dale recalled years afterward:
- "It was a new method of treatment and not too much was known about it. I noticed my leg felt awfully hot. I ended up with third-degree burns and a gangrene infection and almost lost my leg. I was finished in the majors. I couldn’t run and I couldn’t field [before the injury] and when I got hurt, that was the end."
Facing dim prospects for a full recovery, Moose retired from the majors after the 1933 season. In 662 games he had batted .331 with 61 HR and 459 RBI. He returned to the minors, hitching on with Kansas City of the American Association. On June 14, 1935, he hit four consecutive home runs at Nicolet Park in Minneapolis to set a minor league record.
In 1939, Alexander became player-manager with the Sanford Lookouts in the Florida State League. Moose guided his team to a 98-35 record and a .737 winning percentage. He also did his part at the plate, batting a team-high .345 in 96 games at age 36. In 1940 Alexander left to manage Thomasville in the Georgia-Florida League. Two years later, after managing in his hometown of Greeneville, where he'd first played minor league ball 18 years earlier, Moose retired from baseball.
On March 2, 1979, Dale died in Greeneville at age 75.
Alexander's Moments in the Sun
- In 1932, a season split between Detroit and Boston, Alexander hit .367 to lead the American League.
- He had a 29 game hit-streak in 1930
Trivia
- Alexander is one of just three major leaguers to win a season batting title while playing for two teams in the same league. The others were Harry Walker, who split 1947 with the Phillies and Cardinals and hit .363, and Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie, who played one game for the Philadelphia Athletics before joining the Cleveland Broncos and hitting .379.
- Led the American League in games played in 1929 and 1930.
- The 272 RBI Moose had in his first two seasons set a major league record. It was broken by Joe DiMaggio, who drove in 292 runs in 1936-37. The Yankee Clipper remains the only player to exceed Moose's mark.
- In 1929, Alexander (215) and Roy Johnson (201) became the first pair of rookie teammates with over 200 hits in a season, a mark that still stands.
- Also in 1929, Alexander (110) and Johnson (128) became the first pair of rookie teammates to each score at least 100 runs. The only players to match that feat did so 77 years later when Dan Uggla (105) and Hanley Ramirez (119) achieved it with the 2006 Florida Marlins.
Transactions
June 12, 1932: Traded by the Detroit Tigers with Roy Johnson to the Boston Red Sox for Earl Webb.
External Links
- Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
