Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "The Good Kid", was an American
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Mod ...
player and manager. He played in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a
shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...
on the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as a
player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...
. He was also a radio announcer for the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
and in college was a dual sport athlete in both baseball and earning
All-American honors in basketball for the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
.
Boudreau was an
All-Star for seven seasons. In 1948, Boudreau won the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
Most Valuable Player Award
In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
and managed the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
to the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
title. He won the 1944 American League (AL)
batting title
In baseball, batting average (AVG) is a measure of a batter's success rate in achieving a hit during an at bat. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it is calculated by dividing a player's hits by his at bats (AB). In MLB, a player in each league win ...
(.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946.
In 1970, Boudreau was elected to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
as a player.
Early life
Boudreau was born in
Harvey, Illinois
Harvey is a city in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 20,324 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
Harvey is bordered by the villages of Dixmoor, Illinois, Dixmoor and Riverdale, Illinois, R ...
, the son of Birdie (Henry) and Louis Boudreau.
His father was of French ancestry, his mother was Jewish, and both of his maternal grandparents were observant
Orthodox Jew
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...
s with whom when he was young he celebrated
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...
seder
The Passover Seder (; he, סדר פסח , 'Passover order/arrangement'; yi, סדר ) is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew c ...
s.
He was raised Catholic by his father after his parents divorced.
He graduated from
Thornton Township High School
Thornton Township High School, often simply referred to as Thornton is a public high school founded in 1899, located in Harvey, one of the South Suburbs of the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA. The school is one of three administered by Thornton ...
in
Harvey, Illinois
Harvey is a city in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 20,324 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
Harvey is bordered by the villages of Dixmoor, Illinois, Dixmoor and Riverdale, Illinois, R ...
where he led the "Flying Clouds" to three straight
Illinois high school championship games, winning in 1933 and finishing as runner up in 1934 and 1935.
College baseball and basketball
Boudreau attended the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...
, where he was a member of
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...
fraternity and captain of the
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
and
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
teams. During the
1936–37 basketball and baseball seasons, Boudreau led each Fighting Illini team to a
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
championship.
During the
1937–38 basketball season, Boudreau was named an
NCAA Men's Basketball All-American
The NCAA Men's Basketball All-American teams are teams made up of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball players voted the best in the country by a variety of organizations.
History
All-America teams in college basketball were ...
.
While still at Illinois,
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
general manager
Cy Slapnicka
Cyril Charles Slapnicka (March 23, 1886 – October 20, 1979) was a Major League Baseball pitcher and executive. He played for the Chicago Cubs (1911) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1918). His playing career was unusual in that he went almost seven years ...
paid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians after he graduated. Due to this agreement, Boudreau was ruled ineligible for collegiate sports by the
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
officials.
During his senior year at Illinois, he played professional basketball with the
Hammond Ciesar All-Americans
The Hammond Ciesar All-Americans were a professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League. They were based in Hammond, Indiana, and played in the Hammond Civic Center for home games.
History
The team was founded in 19 ...
of the
National Basketball League.
Despite playing professional baseball with Cleveland, Boudreau earned his
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in education from Illinois in 1940 and worked as the Illinois freshman basketball coach for the 1939 and 1940 teams. Boudreau stayed on as an assistant coach for the
1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team and he was instrumental in recruiting future
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee Andy Phillip to play for Illinois.
Professional baseball career
Cleveland Indians
Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9, 1938, for the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
at 21 as a third baseman in his first game. In 1939, Indian manager
Ossie Vitt told him that he would have to move from his normal third base position to
shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...
since established slugger
Ken Keltner
Kenneth Frederick Keltner (October 31, 1916 – December 12, 1991) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1937 to 1950, most prominently as a member of the Cleveland Indians where h ...
already had the regular third base job.
In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46
doubles and 101
RBI, and was selected for the
All-Star Game
An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...
for the first of five consecutive seasons (MLB cancelled the
1945 game due to war-time travel restrictions and did not name All-Stars).
Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the
56-game hitting streak by
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
. After two sparkling stops by Keltner at third base on hard ground balls earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad-hop grounder to short barehanded and started a double play retiring DiMaggio at first. He finished the season with a modest .257 batting average, but had a league-leading 45 doubles.
After the 1941 season, owner
Alva Bradley
Alva Bradley II (February 28, 1884 – March 30, 1953), was a businessman and baseball team executive.
Early life
Bradley was born in Cleveland to a prominent family, the eldest of five children of Morris A. Bradley and the former Anna A. Leining ...
promoted Indians manager
Roger Peckinpaugh
Roger Thorpe Peckinpaugh (February 5, 1891 – November 17, 1977) was an American professional baseball player shortstop and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1910 through 1927, during which he played for the Cleveland Nap ...
to general manager and appointed the 25-year-old Boudreau player-manager. Boudreau played and managed the Indians throughout World War II (playing basketball had put a strain on Boudreau's ankles that turned into
arthritis
Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
, which classified him as
4-F and thus ineligible for military service).
In 1944, Boudreau turned 134
double plays
In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs.
In Major Leagu ...
, the most ever by a player-manager in MLB history. When he bought the Indians in 1947,
Bill Veeck
William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Br ...
, after being approached by Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides. However, Boudreau hit .355 in 1948; Cleveland won the AL pennant and the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
, the Indians first World Series championship in 28 years and only the second in Indians history, with Veeck and Boudreau publicly acknowledging each other's role in the team's success.
Later career
Boudreau was released by the Indians as both player and manager following the 1950 season. He signed with the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
, playing full-time in 1951, moving up to player-manager in 1952 and managing from the bench in 1953–54. He then became the first manager of the
Kansas City Athletics
The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...
in 1955 after their move from Philadelphia until he was fired after 104 games in 1957 and replaced by
Harry Craft
Harry Francis Craft (April 19, 1915 – August 3, 1995) was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. Born in Ellisville, Mississippi, he was a center fielder for the Cincinnati Reds from 1937 to 1942. Craft attended Mississippi Colleg ...
. He last managed the Chicago Cubs, in 1960.
Managerial record
Boudreau shift
Boudreau is credited with inventing the
infield shift
Infield is a sports term whose definition depends on the sport in whose context it is used.
Baseball
In baseball, the diamond, as well as the area immediately beyond it, has both grass and dirt, in contrast to the more distant, usually grass-c ...
, which came to be known colloquially as the "Boudreau shift." Because slugging
Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
superstar
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 ...
was a dead-pull hitter, he moved most of his Cleveland Indian fielders to the right of second base against the Splendid Splinter, leaving only the third baseman and left fielder to the left of second but also very close to second base, far to the right of their normal positions. With characteristic stubborn pride, Williams refused the obvious advice from teammates to hit or
bunt Bunt may refer to:
* Bunt (community), an elite social group from Karnataka, India
* Bunt (baseball), a batting technique in baseball
* Bunt (sail), a part of a ship's sail
* Bunt Island, island in Antarctica
* The Bunt, nickname of the Bunting ...
to left against the Boudreau shift, but great hitter that he was, not changing his approach against the shift didn't affect his hitting very much.
Boudreau later admitted that the shift was more about "psyching out" Williams rather than playing him to pull. "I always considered the Boudreau shift a psychological, rather than a tactical" ploy, he declared in his autobiography ''Player-Manager''.
Broadcasting
Boudreau did play-by-play for Cub games in 1958–59 before switching roles with manager "Jolly Cholly"
Charlie Grimm
Charles John Grimm (August 28, 1898 – November 15, 1983), nicknamed "Jolly Cholly", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman, most notably for the Chicago Cubs; he was als ...
in 1960. But after only one season as Cubs manager, Boudreau returned to the radio booth and remained there until 1987. He also did radio play-by-play for the
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...
in 1966–1968 and worked on
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...
radio and TV games for WGN as well.
The presence of a Hall of Fame announcer affected at least one game. On June 23, 1976, the Cubs were two runs behind at home in the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home when the umpires called the game on account of darkness (since there were no lights at
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...
until 1988), announcing that the game would be resumed at the same point the next day as was normally the case in those days. But Boudreau knew the rules better than anyone else in the park, it turned out, for he went down quickly to the clubhouse and pointed out to the umpires that a game that was not yet an official game could not be treated as a suspended game (i.e., it had not gone five innings, or four and a half with the home team leading, as neither was the case), and as such had to be replayed from the first pitch (as was then the rule in a rain-out). The umpires called the National League office, found Boudreau was correct, and removed the two-run Cubs deficit.
Later life and honors
Boudreau was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
in 1970 with 77.33% of the vote. That same year, his uniform number 5 was retired by the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
(he wore number 4 with the Red Sox). In 1973, the city of
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
renamed a street bordering
Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball an ...
after Boudreau.
Boudreau Drive in Urbana, Illinois is also named after Boudreau.
In 1990, the Cleveland Indians established The Lou Boudreau Award, which is given every year to the organization's Minor League Player of the Year. In 1992, Boudreau's number 5 jersey was retired by the
Illinois Fighting Illini baseball
The Illinois Fighting Illini baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois, United States. The team competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Div ...
program. Boudreau is only one of three
Illinois Fighting Illini
The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports.
The University operates a number of athletic faci ...
athletes to have their number retired; the other two athletes being
Illinois Fighting Illini football
The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...
players
Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees ...
and
Dick Butkus.
Personal life
Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938, and together they had four children. His daughter Sharyn married
Denny McLain
Dennis Dale McLain (born March 29, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player. He played for ten seasons in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher, most prominently as a member of the Detroit Tigers. In 1968, McLain beca ...
, a former star pitcher with the
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 of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
who was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues (31–6 for the world champion 1968
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 of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
).
Boudreau had a home in
Frankfort, Illinois
Frankfort is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Cook County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 20,296. According to Forbes.com, in 2007 the village ranked as the 36th fastest growing suburb in the Un ...
, for many years. He died on August 10, 2001, due to
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
at St. James Medical Center in
Olympia Fields, Illinois
Olympia Fields is a village and a south suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,718 as of the 2020 census. The municipality grew up around the prestigious Olympia Fields Country Club, originally established ...
. He was 84. He received a Catholic funeral and his body was interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball batting champions
In baseball, batting average (AVG) is a measure of a batter's success rate in achieving a hit during an at bat. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it is calculated by dividing a player's hits by his at bats (AB). In MLB, a player in each league wins ...
*
List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
In baseball, a doubles is recorded when the ball is hit so that the batter is able to advance to second base without an error by a defensive player. In Major League Baseball (MLB), the leader in each league (American League and National League) ...
*
List of Major League Baseball player-managers
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Founded in 1869, it is composed of 30 teams. Each team in the league has a manager, who is responsible for team strategy and leadership on and off ...
*
List of Major League Baseball managers by wins
This article contains a list of all Major League Baseball managers with at least 1,000 career regular season wins and a list of managers who have regular season win percentages of at least .540 in at least 450 games (approximately three full seaso ...
*
Van Lingle Mungo (song)
Notes
References
Further reading
*
Lou Boudreau SABR Biography
External links
*
at The Deadball Era
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudreau, Lou
1917 births
2001 deaths
All-American college men's basketball players
American League All-Stars
American League batting champions
American League Most Valuable Player Award winners
American people of French descent
American people of Jewish descent
Baseball players from Illinois
Boston Red Sox managers
Boston Red Sox players
Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Chicago Bulls announcers
Chicago Cubs announcers
Chicago Cubs managers
Cleveland Indians managers
Cleveland Indians players
Hammond Ciesar All-Americans players
Illinois Fighting Illini baseball players
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches
Kansas City Athletics managers
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Major League Baseball player-managers
Major League Baseball managers with retired numbers
Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
Major League Baseball shortstops
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association broadcasters
People from Frankfort, Illinois
People from Harvey, Illinois
Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois
World Series-winning managers
American men's basketball players
Forwards (basketball)
Guards (basketball)
American Roman Catholics