Friday, September 27, 2013

#218 - Doyle Alexander


What a card: This card marked Doyle Alexander's re-emergence in the majors after a dreadful second stint with the Yankees. In 1984, he went 17-6 with the Blue Jays with a 3.13 ERA.

My observation on the front: Alexander is displaying the whip-like, jerky pitching motion that he had. It often looked to me like he would wear himself out with that delivery.

More opinion from me: Alexander repeated his 17 wins in the 1985 season and was sixth in the Cy Young Award voting. All of his numbers for the 1984 and 1985 season are pretty much the same -- in fact a case could be made that his '84 season was better -- yet he didn't get any votes for the Cy Young in 1984. Just goes to show you what winning the AL East will do for you.

Something you might know: Say it with me: Alexander was the man the Tigers obtained in exchange for a young Eastern League pitcher named John Smoltz. Often cited as one of the most lopsided deals in history, the Tigers did get most of what they wanted in Alexander as he was unstoppable for Detroit until the postseason.

Something you might not know: When Alexander held out with the Giants during spring training in 1982, he was dealt to the Yankees and basically missed all of spring training. That didn't sit well with his Yankees teammates. Said Bobby Murcer: "We've been in spring training for eight weeks and he's just coming. That's not fair."


My observation on the back: Look at all those teams! Alexander hadn't even played a second time for the Braves or the Tigers yet.

The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames tab is updated.

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