One of Doris Day’s least known and least popular film, The Winning Team is a fictionalized biography of the life of major league pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander (1887–1950), starring B-level actor, Ronald Reagan, before he went into a more successful political career.
Modest to a fault, this low-budget feature was shot in black and white by director Lewis Seiler.
The film’s highlight includes his heroic performance in three games in the 1926 World Series against the New York Yankees, where the seventh winning strikeout of Tony Lazzeri is used as the game-ending, Series-winning pitch.
Doris Day plays Alexander’s wife Aimee, and Frank Lovejoy is baseball star Rogers Hornsby.
Its main function is to keep Day busy and in the public’s eyes as a player soon to become a major bankable star.
Note:
I am grateful to TCM for showing this film in a tribute to Doris Day (12 pictures) on August 12, 2018.
