21 Facts About Lou Boudreau

Lou Boudreau played in Major League Baseball for 15 seasons, primarily as a shortstop on the Cleveland Indians, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as a player-manager.

Lou Boudreau was a radio announcer for the Chicago Cubs and in college was a dual sport athlete in both baseball and earning All-American honors in basketball for the University of Illinois.

In 1948, Boudreau won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and managed the Cleveland Indians to the World Series title.

Lou Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game, set on July 14,1946.

In 1970, Lou Boudreau was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a player.

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Lou Boudreau's father was of French ancestry, his mother was Jewish, and both of his maternal grandparents were observant Orthodox Jews with whom when he was young he celebrated Passover seders.

Lou Boudreau was raised Catholic by his father after his parents divorced.

Lou Boudreau graduated from Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois 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.

Lou Boudreau attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and captain of the basketball and baseball teams.

Lou Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9,1938, for the Cleveland Indians at 21 as a third baseman in his first game.

Lou Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the 56-game hitting streak by Joe DiMaggio.

Lou Boudreau played and managed the Indians throughout World War II.

In 1944, Lou Boudreau turned 134 double plays, the most ever by a player-manager in MLB history.

When he bought the Indians in 1947, Bill Veeck, after being approached by Lou Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides.

Lou Boudreau was released by the Indians as both player and manager following the 1950 season.

Lou Boudreau then became the first manager of the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 after their move from Philadelphia until he was fired after 104 games in 1957 and replaced by Harry Craft.

Lou Boudreau later admitted that the shift was more about "psyching out" Williams rather than playing him to pull.

Lou Boudreau was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970 with 77.

Lou Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938, and together they had four children.

Lou Boudreau died on August 10,2001, due to cardiac arrest at St James Medical Center in Olympia Fields, Illinois.

Lou Boudreau received a Catholic funeral and his body was interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.