Doyle Lafayette Alexander (born September 4, 1950) is an American former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) who played for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, Texas Rangers,

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

, and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

Early life

Doyle Lafayette Alexander was born on September 4, 1950, in Cordova, Alabama. Alexander attended Woodlawn High School in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. He later attended Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Missouri.

Major League career

After being drafted by the Dodgers in 1968 in the 9th round, Alexander debuted in the big leagues in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

with the team. He was acquired along with Bob O'Brien, Sergio Robles and Royle Stillman by the

from the Dodgers for

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019), nicknamed "the Judge", was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams over 21 seasons: the Cincinnati Reds (1956–196 ...

and Pete Richert at the

Winter Meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

on December 2, 1971. He enjoyed his first winning season with the Orioles in 1973 when he went 12–8 with a 3.86 ERA. Alexander was traded along with

Ken Holtzman Kenneth Dale Holtzman (November 3, 1945 – April 15, 2024) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from through for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, ...

, Elrod Hendricks, Grant Jackson and

Jimmy Freeman Jimmy Lee Freeman (born June 29, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher who made two brief appearances with the Atlanta Braves in the early 1970s. He batted and threw left-handed. Freeman was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and ...

from the Orioles to the

for

Rick Dempsey John Rikard Dempsey (born September 13, 1949) is an American former professional baseball player.Scott McGregor, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May and Dave Pagan at the

trade deadline In professional sports within the United States and Canada, a trade is a sports league transaction between sports clubs involving the exchange of player rights from one team to another. Though player rights are the primary trading assets, draft ...

on June 15, 1976. He went 10–5 to help the Yankees win the

American League East The American League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. MLB consists of an East, Central, and West division for each of its two 15-team leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (baseball), National League (NL). T ...

division. He did not pitch during the

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. The winner of the ALCS wins the AL pennant and ...

, so he was tapped to start Game 1 of the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

, which he lost. Alexander took advantage of the advent of free agency by signing with the Texas Rangers on November 23, 1976. He rejected the Yankees over the team's refusal to guarantee him twenty starts a season. He enjoyed one good year before falling apart. He would then join the

and

after his stint with Texas. It would not be until he signed with the

during the 1983 season, after being released by the New York Yankees, that he would return to form. The Blue Jays were on the rise in the mid-1980s, and Alexander was an instrumental part of their success, winning 17 games in both

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, including the division-clinching win over the Yankees in 1985. In the ALCS, however, he went 0–1 with an 8.71

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in two starts as the Blue Jays fell to the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

in seven games. When Alexander negotiated his contract with the Blue Jays, the team refused to pay Alexander if he injured himself while

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

. Toronto lawyer Gord Kirke worked out a compromise in which Alexander would collect money while hurt, "only if he was following all hunting regulations and wearing an orange hunting jacket". A slow start the next year resulted in Alexander being traded to the

, who dealt him in turn to the contending

midway through the 1987 season for a then unknown minor-leaguer named

John Smoltz John Andrew Smoltz (born May 15, 1967), nicknamed "Smoltzie" and "Marmaduke", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2009, all but the last year with the Atlanta Braves. An eight-time Ma ...

. The Tigers got more than they could have possibly hoped for in Alexander, who went 9–0 with a 1.53 ERA to propel the Tigers to the division title. However, he struggled again in the ALCS, going 0–2 with a 10.00 ERA, bringing his postseason totals to 0–5 with an 8.38 ERA. The following year, Alexander went 14–11 with a 4.32 ERA, earning his only

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

appearance. In

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, his performance declined (6–18, 4.44 ERA) in part due to pitching with a fractured jaw. He retired following the season. Although Alexander performed fairly well for the Tigers, the Braves ended up getting the better end of the trade in the long run. Smoltz would go on to pitch twenty years with the Braves and became a Hall of Famer. The trade is now considered one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history. It been cited many times since 1987 as an example of a deal in which each team sought something different and received it. While the Tigers wanted Alexander to bolster them in the short-term (which he did by helping them reach the playoffs in 1987 and pitching well for Detroit in 1988), the Braves wanted Smoltz as part of their long-term rebuilding plans (which he did by having a long Hall of Fame career and contributing to Atlanta's rise as one of MLB's most enduringly successful franchises since 1991).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Doyle 1950 births Living people Albuquerque Dodgers players 20th-century American sportsmen American expatriate baseball players in Canada American League All-Stars Arizona Instructional League Dodgers players Atlanta Braves players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Walker County, Alabama Columbus Clippers players Daytona Beach Dodgers players Detroit Tigers players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Kinston Blue Jays players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players People from Cordova, Alabama San Francisco Giants players Spokane Indians players Texas Rangers players Toronto Blue Jays players Tri-City Atoms players