The Winning Team

Ronald Reagan delivers one of his best screen performances as baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander in THE WINNING TEAM. The title refers to the mutually supportive relationship between Alexander and his loving wife Aimee (top-billed Doris Day); with this in mind, is it any surprise that the real Aimee Alexander served as the film's technical adviser. What was left out of the script & film was that Aimee married her husband three separate times after twice divorcing him to as she said stop him from drinking. THE WINNING TEAM was directed by Lewis Seiler who went from directing 2-reel silent comedies to making westerns with legendary Tom Mix. Among his best sound films are GUADALCANAL DIARY and some DEAD END KIDS & CHARLIE CHAN films. THE WINNING TEAM was produced by Bryan Foy a long time friend of Ronald Reagan's as they made so many "B" films together he was jokingly referred to as "keeper of the B's" (low budget, shorter films to play second on a double bill). Foy directed the very first all-talkie feature film LIGHTS OF NEW YORK in 1928 and he produced the most successful 3-D film of the 1950's, HOUSE OF WAX in 1953. And yes Foy was one of the sons of vaudevillian Eddie Foy.

Grover Cleveland "Old Pete" Alexander lived from 1887 to 1950. He was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938. In his 1911 debut, Alexander led the league with 28 wins (a modern-day rookie record), 31 complete games, 367 innings pitched, and seven shutouts. He was drafted into WWI and in France was an artillery officer, where he suffered from shell shock and partial hearing loss. Injuries from playing baseball and battle fatigue lead to more physical problems and alcoholism. After the film was finished Ronald Reagan was disappointed that it was not made more clear that Alexander suffered from Epilepsy, the studio banned the use of the word in the film because of a social stigma at the time. Modern examples of controversy might include living legends Pete Rose and Mark McGuire. But it has been suggested that the drinking was due to his fear (which the film touches on) from not understand epilepsy and the seizures that he had. Notable Achievements include: 373 career wins (3rd all-time); Won 20 games or more 9 times, won 30 games or more 3 times; Pitched 90 shutouts (2nd all time); Won NL Pitcher's Triple Crown in 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1920; World Series champion (1926); National League pennants (1915), (1918) In 1999 he was ranked number 12 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Ballplayers of all time.

Ronald Reagan best known as our 40th President, started his acting career as a sports caster in Des Moines, Iowa which led to being a play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood and debuted in LOVE IS IN THE AIR. He appeared in dozens of B films. In the 1939 Bette Davis "A" film DARK VICTORY, Reagan got good notices which led to better roles as in George Gipp (win this one for the "Gipper") in the sports bio KNUTE ROCKNE: ALL American and George Armstrong Custer in SANTE FE TRAIL. He was never Oscar nominated but many consider his role in KINGS ROW to be his best performance. In 1951 he made his first film with Doris Day, it was a KKK drama called STORM WARNING. During the 1950s he was a democrat and fought communism as the head of the Screen Actors Guild and while working in television as host of the General Electric Theater he switched to the Republican Party in 1962. He met his wife Nancy Davis while making the film HELLCATS OF THE NAVY. His last film was THE KILLERS in 1964. In 1966 he was elected Governor of California and the rest they say is history.

Doris Day turned 87 this past April 3rd, she was born Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff in Evanston, Ohio. At 14 she won a talent contest on a Cincinnati radio, the band leader joked she should change her name to something shorter for a marquee. The song she sang was "Day by Day." Doris Day was soon discovered by band leader Les Brown and their hit SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY sent her to Hollywood where she made ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS in 1948. Her song, "IT'S MAGIC" was Oscar nominated for best song. Among her many film highlights are CALAMITY JANE, TEACHER'S PET (her favorite), LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, THE PAJAMA GAME, Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, THAT TOUCH OF MINK and PILLOW TALK (my favorite) where she was Oscar nominated for Best Leading Actress. Her TV career included THE DORIS DAY SHOW, DORIS DAY TODAY & DORIS DAY'S BEST FRIENDS. She is now retired, living in Carmel California, a full-time vegetarian and an animal rights activist.

3rd billed Frank Lovejoy plays Rogers Hornsby another ballplayer who befriends Alexander. You may not remember his name but you will recognize him, square-jawed, intense, no-nonsense Frank Lovejoy played a succession of detectives, street cops, reporters and soldiers in films. He made his Broadway debut in 1934 and with his gritty, authoritative voice was perfect for radio making thousands of old time radio show appearances on "Gangbusters", "Night Beat" and "Damon Runyon Theater".

Not a great film, but entertaining for baseball fans. Ronald Reagan plays Grover Cleveland Alexander, one of the greatest pitchers in big league history.

Doris Day, a great actress, is outstanding as Aimee, his wife (this film is worth watching just because Doris is in it).

The real life Alexander served in World War I and also was an alcoholic.

The movie covers the baseball career of the great pitcher (who won 28 games as a rookie, 373 overall). The movies' biggest fault was it ends with Alexander's heroics in the 1926 World Series in St. Louis upset of the powerful Yankees. In 1928,the Yankees slaughtered the same Cardinals team in a four game sweep, with Alexander, still pitching at age 41, getting shelled in two starts.

Actual baseball footage at the end of the film shows the great Babe Ruth inexplicably trying to steal second base, with the Yankees trailing, down to their last out in the series (he was thrown out).

Grover Cleveland Alexander was a remarkable pitcher and lived a very interesting life in an era in which baseball sported the most colorful people in its history: the early 1900s. Some of stories about them, like this one, are very inspiring, too, although they end this bio on Alexander's high note not his tragic demise - but what's wrong with that? People want to leave the theater feeling good, not depressed.

Ronald Reagan does a decent job portraying "Alex," except for the baseball scenes where he doesn't throw or hit like a real big-leaguer. That was common in classic sports films. You don't see that now. Robert Redford ("The Natural"), Kevin Costner (several baseball films) and the like, know how to play the game.

This is corny in spots and it's sugar-coated like some of the other classic sports stories. However, Alexander is shown with his drinking problem and his wife, played by Doris Day, also does the wrong thing walking away from her husband in his time of need.....so you do see some bad with the good. Yet, all ends well and overall, it's an interesting movie.

What's more, the climactic scene actually happened in real life where Alexander turned into a World Series hero despite the odds against him.

If you really want interesting stories, read the real-life accounts of men like Alexander, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Matthewson, John MacGraw, Honus Wagner, Tris Speaker, etc. They are fascinating.

Winning Team, The (1952)

*** (out of 4)

Pretty good, if watered down, drama about the career of Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander (Ronald Reagan) who started life on the farm but quickly made a name for himself as a pitcher. When his career was apparently over he started to suffer from alcoholism but his wife (Doris Day) gets him back into shape so that he can make a comeback. Once again we have a bio-pic that has been fictionalized but even with this the movie manages to be very entertaining from start to finish thanks to some very good performances. I think there are a few minor issues with one of them being the fact that the studio forced the producer's to cut down on some of the more darker moments. The alcoholism issue is only touched for a few seconds and Alexander's battle with epilepsy is pretty much overlooked. Another minor problem is that this is a movie about Alexander yet a lot of the attention goes to the wife. Day got top-billing but this is certainly Reagan's movie but at the same time there are many scenes that are obviously here just to give Day more scenes and this includes a really bad singing sequence around Christmas time. With all of that said, the rest of the movie is pretty much a winner. Baseball fans are really going to eat up seeing how they were playing back in the day plus we get to view the old-time uniforms and even better is that we get to see some of the old baseball stadiums. There's also quite a bit of stock footage used to try and re-create some moments of the 1926 World Series, which was against the New York Yankees and their Murderers Row. This was Reagan's final film at Warner after fifteen-years worth of service and they certainly let him go out on a high note. I thought Reagan was very believable in the role and manages to look quite natural as a pitcher and he also managed to be very believable in the part of the farm boy. The early scenes with him struggling with his disease were extremely well-done and this ranks as one of the actors better performances. Day is also in top-form even though I think we could have used a little less of her character. Frank Lovejoy gets a good bit as Rogers Hornsby and we get some real-life players including Jerry Priddy, Bob Lemon, Peanuts Lowery and Irving Noren. Frank Ferguson, who most will remember from ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, plays Day's father here. Again, if you're wanting to truth on Alexander then it's best you go read a book but if you're just looking for some quick entertainment then this film does the job.

In "The Winning Team" Reagan is the great early baseball star Grover Cleveland Alexander. Unimaginitive direction makes this film a little dry, but Reagan's solid performance as the pitcher who has a tragic accident early in his career and yet refuses to quit, is well worth the effort to watch it. Reagan gives a realistic portrayal of the flawed hero who makes a surprising comeback and with the help of his wife, and ignores the ugly rumors that surrounded his occasional blackouts. His performance on the field in the final moments, despite suffering from his affliction reflect the courage that it must have taken the real Alexander to stay at the helm till the ship sailed home. I recommend this film to anyone who likes baseball and certainly to fans of Reagan, who has been often disparaged as an actor, when it was usually the director or the film itself that was really bad. I also recommend Kings Row, Hasty Heart and Law and Order, all of which are solid Reagan films.