Dale Alexander (April 26, 1903-March 2, 1979) was a professional baseball player for the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. Nickname: Moose. Born in Greeneville, Tennessee, Dale was one of the best hitters in baseball for a short time but was such a terrible fielder that he could not stick in the big leagues. Dale exploded into the American League in 1929, hitting .343, knocking in 137 runs, scoring 110, and leading the league with 215 hits. The next year, he drove in another 135 runs. In 1932, splitting the year between the Tigers and Red Sox, he topped the American League in batting at .367, but Jimmie Foxx officially won the title due to qualification rules at the time.
On May 30, 1933, Dale Alexander suffered a leg injury that would result in ending his major league career. Between games against the A’s, Boston Red Sox trainer, Doc Woods burned Dale’s leg during a diathermy treatment. Gangrene eventually set in. As a result, Dale missed most of the rest of the season. His leg injury effectively ended his major league career. On July 4, 1933, Dale suffered another injury to his leg. He was able to return to the lineup on August 3. For the rest of the season, he would see limited playing time, mostly as a pinch hitter. His last ML game would be on September 23 against the Yankees.
Years later Moose would say about that day, “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.”
In 1934, Dale was sent back to the minors, never to return to the majors.
The story that Dale’s major league career ended because his hitting fell off is largely a myth. Playing for Newark in 1934, Dale hit .336 and drove in 123 runs with 14 dingers and 35 doubles. He also managed to steal 7 bases. While playing for the Johnny Kling owned Kansas City Blues, Dale belted 4 homeruns in a game against Minneapolis on June 14, 1935. For the remainder of his minor league career, Dale never hit under .300 until his final year in 1942. His minor league batting average would be .338 with 2072 hits and 1171 RBIs.
Dale died at his birthplace, Greeneville, Tennessee.
