Back in the days when baseball was the number-one sport in America, and a man named Babe captivated our nation, Tennessee’s own Dale Alexander was setting records and winning batting titles. The powerful batter was born on a farm near Greeneville, Tennessee, and played baseball at Tusculum College. His collegiate performances were impressive enough for Greeneville, then in Class D baseball, to sign him. After one year with the home club, Alexander moved up to Charlotte and then to Toronto where he caught the eye of Bucky Harris, the old manager of the Detroit Tigers. Alexander made his first major league appearance in 1929 and promptly set a record of 215 hits in a single season, which was not broken for thirty-seven years. Alexander toiled for the Tigers until June of 1932 when he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. Even with the disruption, that season Alexander was able to win the league batting title (.367). Alexander served through part of the 1933 season with the Red Sox before an injury ended his major league career. After leaving the majors, Dale began a tour through the minor leagues over the country as a player, manager, and scout that sounds something like the tours of the old gypsy tribes. “After 41 years in baseball,” boasted Dale in 1968, “my weight isn’t five pounds away from my normal playing weight, 220 pounds at six feet and three inches.” They don’t make
