He was born in Elba, Nebraska and broke into the major leagues in 1911 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Alexander pitched for the Phillies until 1918 when he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. He pitched for the Cubs until 1926 when he was selected off waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals. Alexander pitched for the Cardinals until 1930 when he was traded back to the Phillies where he finished his career.

His biggest individual accomplishments were:

Career:

• being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938,
• most Winss (373) and Shutouts (90) by a National League pitcher,
• won the pitching triple crown (led league in wins, strikeouts and ERA) in 1915, 1916, and 1920,
• being on the 1926 World Series winning Cardinals team.

• most Shutouts (16) in 1916

• led the Major Leagues 4 times in Shutouts and Wins
• led the Major Leagues 3 times in Games started, Complete games, Innings pitched, Strike outs and Earned run average
• led the National League 7 times in Shutouts and Innings pitched,
• led the National League 6 times in Wins, Strike outs and Complete games,
• led the National League 4 times in Earned run average, Walks plus hits per inning pitched and Games started