When the Cubs got Alexander in the trade with the Phillies, they were getting the best active pitcher in the National League, a great athlete who had won 30 or more games three years in a row and who seemed destined for even greater stardom. What the Cubs got when he came back from the war was a scarred, shell-shocked, half-deaf epileptic and alcoholic whose zest for life, without the inducement of liquor, was left somewhere on a muddy battlefield thousands of miles way.

Skipper, John C. (2006-05-18). Wicked Curve: The Life and Troubled Times of Grover Cleveland Alexander (p. 77). McFarland Publishing. Kindle Edition.