Grover Cleveland Alexander

Two years following Grover Cleveland Alexander's death, Warner Brothers released The Winning Team, a movie portrayal of Alexander's personal and professional tragedies and triumphs. Directed by Lewis Seiler, the film starred Ronald Reagan and Doris Day, and also featured several major-league baseball players of the 1950s such as "Peanuts" Lowrey, Jerry Priddy, and George Metkovich.

Hollywood took certain liberties, rearranging some chronological events and romanticizing the great pitcher's life. It did, however, emphasize the troubled and passionate relationship between Alexander and Aimee, and while perhaps downplaying the seriousness of Alexander's drinking, the movie shed more light on the pitcher's other health problems that resulted from his experiences in World War I and from his uncontrollable epilepsy. Because of the film's removal from close adherence to the facts, it received sharp criticism.