"For the Fans"

Telephone switchboards at Cleveland newspapers and radio stations lit up like Christmas trees last week. The town's baseball fans had just heard that the Indians were sacking popular Manager Lou Boudreau, and the fans were grabbing telephones to register their wrath. Three years ago, in the regime of Owner Bill Veeck, the club had talked about trading Manager Lou, but backed down when the customers raised the roof. This time there was not much advance warning: Boudreau himself was "shocked."

General Manager Hank Greenberg, a good country slugger in his day but not yet a good public-relations man, tried to pour soothing oil on the fans' hurt, but nearly drowned himself in it. After acknowledging that Boudreau was "probably the most popular player in Cleveland history," Greenberg bubbled on that, in sacking him, the new management was just trying to "do what was right for the fans." Boudreau fans considered that Greenberg had done them dirt.

Lou Boudreau had been a Cleveland pet ever since he joined the Indians as a shortstop in 1939. In 1942 he became the "boy wonder" manager (at 24). Lacking speed afoot (his nickname is "Old Shufflefoot"), Lou made up for his slowness by getting a fast jump on the ball and by developing an almost uncanny knack of knowing where opposing batters were most likely to hit.

Handsome Lou, idol of Cleveland's bobby-soxers as well as its knowledgeable fans, had his biggest year in 1948, right after Bill Veeck tried to fire him. Batting a splendid .355 and driving in 106 runs, Lou led his Indians to their first pennant in 28 years and a world championship over the Boston Braves.

Last year Lou slowed down at the plate, benched himself half the season in favor of agile young Shortstop Ray Boone. The Indians, a red-hot pennant contender in August, cooled down in the September stretch while Manager Lou, always at his best as a field leader, sat on the bench nursing a sickly .269 batting average and a pair of sore, 33-year-old legs. Cleveland's new manager: 42-year-old Al Lopez, once (1947) a second-string catcher for Boudreau, since then a highly successful manager for the Indianapolis Indians. At week's end, Lou Boudreau seemed to have no idea where he'd be next year. ---

While Boudreau was left to his wondering, another baseball headliner settled down with a long contract. At 69, onetime Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey signed a five-year contract (with an option for a five-year renewal) as general manager of the hapless (last place) but profitable (second in league attendance) Pittsburgh Pirates.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.