Bill James AL 1940-1949 All Decade Team

[Old Sweater]

AMERICAN LEAGUE 1940 - 1949

First Team Second Team Third Team

C - Frankie Hayes Buddy Rosar Bill Dickey
1B - Rudy York George McQuinn Mickey Vernon
2B - Bobby Doerr Joe Gordon Snuffy Stirnweiss
3B - Ken Keltner Johnny Pesky George Kell
SS - Lou Boudreau Luke Appling Vern Stephens
LF - Ted Williams Charlie Keller Jeff Heath
CF - Joe DiMaggio Stan Spence Dom DiMaggio
RF - Roy Cullenbine Tommy Henrich Wally Moses
P - Hal Newhouser Dutch Leonard Tex Hughson
P - Dizzy Trout Tiny Bonham Spud Chandler
P - Bob Feller Bobo Newsom Nels Potter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win_shares

Win shares is the name of the metric Bill James describes in his 2002 book Win Shares.

It considers statistics for baseball players, in the context of their team and in a sabermetric way, and assigns a single number to each player for his contributions for the year. All pitching, hitting and defensive contributions by the player are taken into account. Statistics are adjusted for park, league and era.

A win share represents one-third of a team win, by definition.[1] If a team wins 80 games in a season, then its players will share 240 win shares. The formula for calculating win shares is complicated; it takes up pages 16–100 in the book. The general approach is to take the team's win shares (i.e., 3 times its number of wins), then divide them between offense and defense.

On a team with equal offensive and defensive prowess, hitters receive 48% of the win shares and those win shares are allocated among the hitters based on runs created. An estimation is then made to decide what amount of the defensive credit goes to pitchers and what amount goes to fielders. Pitching contributions typically receive 35% (or 36%) of the win shares, defensive contributions receive 17% (or 16%) of the win shares. The pitching contributions are allocated among the pitchers based on runs prevented, the pitchers' analogue to runs created. Fielding contributions are allocated among the fielders based on a number of assumptions and a selection of traditional defensive statistics.[2]

In Major League Baseball, based on a 162-game schedule, a typical All-Star might amass 20 win shares in a season. More than 30 win shares (i.e. the player is directly responsible for 10 wins by his team) is indicative of MVP-level performance, and 40+ win shares represents an exceptional, historic season. For pitchers, Win Shares levels are typically lower—in fact, they often come close to mirroring actual wins.

Win shares differs from other sabermetric player rating metrics such as Total player rating and VORP in that it is based on total team wins, not runs above average.

[Old Sweater]

First Team, Catcher, Frankie Hayes



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Hayes

Frank Witman Hayes (October 13, 1914 - June 22, 1955) was an American professional baseball player.[1] He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1933 to 1947 and, was highly regarded for his defensive abilities.[1][2] He played most of his career for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics and also spent time with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Red Sox.[1] He hit and threw right-handed, and played his entire career in the American League.[1] Hayes holds the major league record of most consecutive games played by a catcher.

Major League career

Born and raised in Jamesburg, New Jersey, Hayes was nicknamed "Blimp", even though he was listed at 6'0" and 185 lbs.[4] He began his major league career on September 21, 1933 at the age of 18, making him the youngest player in the league at the time.[5] He would go hitless in five at bats that season.[1] Hayes appeared in 92 games in 1934 as a reserve catcher backing up Charlie Berry, before being sent to the minor leagues to play for the Buffalo Bisons in the 1935 season.

He returned to the major leagues in 1936, replacing Paul Richards as the Athletics starting catcher, a position he would hold for the next six seasons.[1] On July 25, 1936, Hayes tied a major league record by hitting 4 doubles in a game against the Cleveland Indians.[6][7] In 1939, he earned his first selection to the American League All-Star team, as a reserve behind Bill Dickey.[8] He ended the year with a .283 batting average along with 20 home runs and 83 runs batted in. His batting average improved in 1940, when he posted a .308 batting average with 16 home runs and 70 runs batted in.[1] Hayes' on base percentage also improved from .348 in to .389. as, he gained his second consecutive All-Star selection.[1][9]

Hayes was traded to the St. Louis Browns for Bob Harris and Bob Swift in 1942.[10] After two shortened seasons with the Browns, he was traded back to the Athletics for Sam Zoldak in 1944.[10] It seemed his career had been rejuvenated after returning to Philadelphia, producing a career-high 144 hits in 581 at bats, for a .248 batting average, with 13 home runs, 18 doubles, 6 triples and 78 runs batted in.[1] Hayes caught every one of the Athletics' 155 games and led American League catchers in games played, putouts, assists, and in baserunners caught stealing.[11] He was also named to the American League All-Star team for the fourth time in his career and, ranked 14th in the 1944 American League Most Valuable Player Award balloting.[12][13]

In May 1945, the Athletics traded Hayes to the Cleveland Indians for Buddy Rosar, another light-hitting catcher with solid defensive skills.[10] He led all American League catchers in 1945 with 145 games played and a .988 fielding percentage.[14] He was selected to be a reserve catcher for the American League in the 1945 All-Star Game however, the game was cancelled due to wartime travel restrictions.

From October 2, 1943 to April 21, 1946, Hayes caught 312 consecutive games, a record for catchers that has never been broken.[3][4] Hayes was the Indians catcher on April 30, 1946 when Bob Feller threw a no hitter and, he provided the only run of the game with a ninth-inning home run.[15] In the middle of the 1946 season while mired in a hitting slump, Hayes had a falling out with Indians' manager Lou Boudreau over being benched in favor of Sherm Lollar.[16] Five days after starting for the American League in the 1946 All-Star game, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox.[10][17] He was released by the White Sox after the 1946 season then, signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent.[10] He retired with the Red Sox on May 17, 1947.

Career statistics

In a 14 year career, Hayes played in 1364 games, accumulating 1164 hits in 4493 at bats for a .259 career batting average along with 119 home runs and 585 runs batted in.[1] He ended his career with a .977 fielding percentage.[1] He compiled 30 career stolen bases along with 213 doubles and 32 triples.[1] During his career, he was named to six All-Star teams.[1] He led the American League three times in total chances per game, twice each in putouts, double plays, and once each in assists and fielding percentage as a catcher.[2] When he caught 155 games in 1944, he set a still-standing American League record for games played in a season as catcher.[2][18] His record of 312 consecutive games caught remains unbroken. Hayes' 29 double plays in 1945 is the second-highest season total ever for a catcher, behind Steve O'Neill's record of 36, set in 1916.[2][19]

Hayes never reached the postseason, and died in Point Pleasant, New Jersey in 1955, seven years after retiring.

Career statistics
Batting average .259
Home runs 119
Runs batted in 628
Teams

Philadelphia Athletics (1933–1942)
St. Louis Browns (1942–1943)
Philadelphia Athletics (1944–1945)
Cleveland Indians (1945–1946)
Chicago White Sox (1946)
Boston Red Sox (1947)

Career highlights and awards

6× All-Star selection (1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1946)

[BobH]

Hayes was only 40 when he died. I wonder what happened.-BH

[Old Sweater]

Hayes was only 40 when he died. I wonder what happened.-BH

I looked it up. All I could find is that was admitted to a hospital and the family wouldn't reveal the cause of death.

[BobH]

Yeah, OS....I researched it too and that's exactly what I got. Sounds to me it might've been something the family didn't want divulged....for whatever reason.


I just found this...cause of death was Retro Peritoneal Hemorhhage. I stll know as much as I did before. -BH

[Old Sweater]

First Team, First Baseman, Rudy York



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_York

Preston Rudolph York (August 17, 1913 — February 5, 1970) was a Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Detroit Tigers (1934, 1937–45), Boston Red Sox (1946–47), Chicago White Sox (1947) and Philadelphia Athletics (1948). York was born in Ragland, Alabama. He batted and threw right-handed.

With one-eighth Cherokee ancestry and less-than-perfect fielding abilities, York prompted one sportswriter to declare: "He is part Indian and part first baseman".

Early life

York's family moved from Ragland, Alabama, to Aragon, Georgia, when Rudy was a small boy. Rudy's mother moved the family to the Cartersville, Georgia, area sometime in the late 1920s. They lived in the American Textile Company (ATCO) mill town on the outskirts of Cartersville, where Rudy began working in his early teens

Amateur career

In his mid-teens, Rudy was playing baseball with older men on the ATCO mill team and receiving local attention for his prowess at the plate. Rudy would become the team's star player from 1930 to 1933.

Professional career

Minor leagues

York received a tryout and was signed by the Knoxville club of the Southern League in April 1933 but was released after appearing in just three games. Rudy returned to the Atco community and briefly resumed play with the mill team. He spent most of June of that year playing for a semi-pro team in Albany, Georgia, before returning to Atco for another brief stint with the mill team. In early July, Detroit scout Eddie Goosetree signed him for the Tigers. Assigned briefly to Shreveport of the Dixie League, he finished the 1933 season with Beaumont of the Texas League.

First taste of the majors

After playing most of the 1934 season with the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League ("on loan" from Beaumont), York had a brief stay with the Tigers at the end of the 1934 season. He batted just six times and tallied one hit - a single. Although he was on the Tigers' roster for the 1934 World Series, he saw no action in the Fall Classic. At the end of the year, he was shipped back to Beaumont. As a first baseman, York was selected the MVP of the Texas League in 1935 while with Beaumont, and he won the same award in the American Association in 1936 when he played for Milwaukee.

In the majors to stay

1937: Rookie season

York went back to Detroit to stay in 1937. Since there was no room for a rookie first baseman on a team that already had Hank Greenberg, York started the season at third base but his defensive liabilities were just too much to overlook. After a brief try in left field, he was benched in favor of more experienced outfielders. After being inactive for much of the month of June, Rudy was reinstalled at third base in the hopes that his big bat would come alive and help keep Detroit in the pennant race. While Rudy's bat did start to come around in July, by the end of the month he was back on the bench when regular third baseman Marv Owen returned from a broken wrist. In early August, Tigers manager Mickey Cochrane, who had been the Tigers' regular catcher until his playing career was ended that May when he was hit in the head by a pitch from the Yankees' Bump Hadley, decided to put Rudy behind the plate in the place of Birdie Tebbetts, a good defensive catcher who was barely hitting. As a rookie catcher, Rudy startled the baseball world. On the last day of August 1937, York belted two home runs, giving him 18 for the month and surpassing the record of 17 set by Babe Ruth in September 1927. York also collected 49 RBI that month breaking by one the mark set by Lou Gehrig, and finished his rookie season with a .303 batting average, 35 home runs, and 103 RBI in only 375 at-bats. Later in the season, Cochrane, insisted the rookie try to become the team regular catcher.

Remaining career in Detroit

York started as a catcher in 1938. A year later, he shared duties with Birdie Tebbetts. Then, in 1940 the Tigers persuaded Greenberg to switch from first base to left field, moved York to first, and replaced him behind the plate with Tebbetts. The experiment was successful. In that season Greenberg hit .340 with 41 home runs and 150 RBI, and York compiled .316, 33 and 134, for an American League champion team that lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1940 World Series in seven games. In the series, York batted .231 (6-for-26) with one home run and two RBI. In addition, York was nominated for the AL MVP Award.

With Greenberg out in the military service, York was the only offensive support for the Tigers in 1941. He hit 27 home runs (including a three-home-run game) with 111 RBI. In 1942, York slipped to 21 HR and 90 RBI, but in 1943 he enjoyed a season career when he led the league in home runs (34), RBI (118), total bases (301), extra base hits (67), slugging percentage (.527) and games played (155), and also he got his second MVP consideration.

York fell below 20 homers in 1944 and 1945 (18 each), and had a poor performance in the 1945 World Series, when Detroit defeated the Cubs in seven games.

Career winding down: Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia

He was sent to Boston in January 1946. It turned out to be a good deal for the Red Sox. York crashed two grand slams in a game against the Browns on July 27, and helped lead Boston to the American League pennant. In that season, York hit .276 with 17 home runs and 119 RBI. He added two decisive homers in the World Series against the Cardinals: a 10th-inning game-winner in the Game One, and a three-run winner in the Game Three. Finally, St. Louis took the series four games to three.

In 1947, York nearly died when a fire, believed to have been started by a cigarette, swept his hotel room. A rare highlight that season came on April 23, when Yankees Allie Reynolds pitched a two-hit shutout against Boston. The only hits were delivered by York. After a slow baseball start, however, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox in the mid-season. He was given his unconditional release in February 1948 - and picked up by the Philadelphia Athletics, for what would be his final season as a major leaguer.

After the major leagues

After his major league baseball career ended, York continued to play when and where he could. It is believed that his playing career finally ended in 1952 when he batted .258 with two home runs for Benson-DeGraff in Minnesota's Class AA amateur Western Minny league.

Overview

Regarded as a "wood" man rather than a "glove" man, York responded in his own terms slugging his way to major league fame, while his managers tried to figure out the position where he could do the least damage as a fielder. Nevertheless, York tried at a variety of positions. He was too awkward at third, too heavy footed for the outfield, extremely wild as a pitcher, and an immobile target as a catcher. From the beginning, though, he was a menacing figure with a bat and amazingly dangerous with the bases loaded—he hit 12 career grand slams, including two in a game.

York was a career .275 hitter with 277 home runs and 1152 RBI in 1603 games. In three World Series he hit .221 with three homers and 10 RBI. He was selected for the All-Star Game seven times. York's .503 slugging percentage as a Detroit Tiger ranks #4 in franchise history behind Hank Greenberg, Harry Heilmann, and Ty Cobb. His 239 home runs as a Tiger ranks #7 in franchise history.

Post-playing career

York's post-playing baseball career included stints as a manager in the low minor leagues, scouting posts with the New York Yankees and Houston Colt .45s/Astros, and four seasons (1959–62) as the first-base coach for the MLB Red Sox. On July 3, 1959, he served as acting manager of the Red Sox for one game during the interim period between Pinky Higgins' firing and the hiring of Washington Senators coach Billy Jurges as Higgins' permanent successor. Boston lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1, that day.

Life after baseball

Rudy York died from cancer in Rome, Georgia, at the age of 56. He was buried in Cartersville's cemetery, Sunset Memory Gardens.

Career statistics
Batting average .275
Home runs 277
Runs batted in 1,152
Teams

Detroit Tigers (1934, 1937–1945)
Boston Red Sox (1946–1947)
Chicago White Sox (1947)
Philadelphia Athletics (1948)

Career highlights and awards

7× All-Star selection (1938, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1947)
World Series champion (1945)

[BobH]

My dad told me an interesting story about Rudy when they were together with the Tigers. Rudy was a full-blooded Cherokee and had a real penchant for the 'fire-water'( booze for the less informed). The Tigers offered him a 500 dollar bonus for every month he could stay sober during the season...a pretty decent offer in those days. He never collected.-BH

[Old Sweater]

First Team, Second Baseman, Bobby Doerr



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Doerr

Robert Pershing Doerr (born April 7, 1918 in Los Angeles, California) is a former Major League Baseball second baseman and coach. He played his entire 14-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox (1937–1951). He led American League (AL) second basemen in double plays five times, tying a league record, in putouts and fielding percentage four times each, and in assists three times. He held the major league record for career double plays at second base (1,507) until Nellie Fox surpassed his mark in 1963, and his career fielding percentage (.980) was a major league record until Red Schoendienst passed him in 1953; Fox broke his AL mark in 1956. Doerr also ended his career ranking fifth in career games (1,852), putouts (4,928) and total chances (10,852) at second base, and sixth in assists (5,710). He set Red Sox records for career games (1,865), at bats (7,093), hits (2,042), doubles (381), total bases (3,270) and runs batted in (1,247),[1] all of which were later broken by his longtime teammate Ted Williams. His 223 home runs were then the third most by a major league second baseman, with his 1,247 RBI ranking fifth in Boston Red Sox history.

Major league playing career

Robert Pershing Doerr was born the son of Harold Doerr, a telephone company supervisor, and his wife, the former Frances Herrnberger; his middle name was a tribute to General John J. Pershing, then the commander of U.S. military forces in World War I.[2] He graduated from Los Angeles' Fremont High School in 1936, after having already begun his professional career with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1934. Doerr broke into the majors in 1937 at the age of 19 and went 3 for 5 in his first game. In 1938 he became a regular in a powerful Red Sox lineup that included Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, and Dom DiMaggio. Early in his career Doerr was often called upon to bunt and was so proficient at it that he led the league with 22 in 1938. In 1939, Ted Williams' rookie season with the Sox, Doerr began a string of 12 consecutive seasons with 10 or more home runs and 73 or more runs batted in; in 1940 the Red Sox became the 12th team in major league history to have four players with 100 RBI, with Foxx, Williams, Cronin and Doerr each collecting at least 105.

In 1944 Doerr led the league in slugging percentage. The same year, his .325 batting average was good enough to allow him to finish second in the league, two percentage points behind Lou Boudreau of the Cleveland Indians. He was named the AL's Most Valuable Player by The Sporting News, although he finished only seventh in voting for the AL MVP Award, being named on only 13 of 24 ballots and receiving nothing higher than a third-place vote.

Doerr missed the 1945 season while serving in the Army during World War II, being stationed at Camp Roberts, California.

Doerr was an offensive force for the Red Sox in 1946 as they won their first pennant since 1918, driving in 116 runs despite a .271 average, and finished third in the MVP vote (won by Williams). He hit .409 in the 1946 World Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, with a home run and three runs batted in. Williams referred to Doerr as "the silent captain of the Red Sox."

Doerr hit for the cycle twice in his career, on May 17, 1944 in a 12–18 loss to the St. Louis Browns in the second game of a doubleheader, and again on May 13, 1947 in a 19–16 win over the Chicago White Sox. In 1950 he led the league in triples with 11; on June 8 of that year, he hit three home runs in a 29–24 romp over the Browns.

Regarded as one of the top defensive second basemen of his era, with observers divided between him and Joe Gordon of the rival New York Yankees, Doerr set an American League record in 1948 by handling 414 chances in a row over 73 games without an error.

Doerr batted over .300 three times, with six seasons of at least 100 runs batted in. Never playing a game at a position other than second base, he retired at age 33 in September 1951 due to a back injury, having 8,028 plate appearances, 1,094 runs, 89 triples, 809 walks, 1,349 singles, 1,184 runs created, 693 extra base hits, 2,862 times on base, 115 sacrifice hits and nine All-Star Game selections. He had enjoyed tremendous success at Fenway Park, hitting .315 there with 145 home runs, compared to a .261 average and 78 HRs on the road.

Later achievements and honors

Doerr became a scout for the Red Sox from 1957 to 1966, then was the team's first base coach from 1967 to 1969, including the 1967 World Series loss to the Cardinals, Boston's first pennant since 1946. As Boston's unofficial batting instructor during 1967, Doerr worked with Carl Yastrzemski to convert the seven-year veteran from an opposite-field "doubles" hitter who had never before hit more than 20 homers in a season to a pull-hitting slugger who belted 44 home runs and won the Triple Crown and AL Most Valuable Player award that season. Doerr resigned from the Red Sox when Dick Williams was fired as manager in September 1969, but later became the hitting coach for the expansion Toronto Blue Jays from 1977 to 1981.

Doerr was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986. He has lived in Oregon since the late 1930s, residing in the vicinity of Agness for much of his career before relocating to Junction City in the 1950s. His jersey number 1 was retired by the Red Sox on May 21, 1988. Since then, Doerr has lived a relatively quiet lifestyle at his Junction City home. He makes annual trips to the Hall of Fame induction at Cooperstown, New York, and when home, regularly fishes large game fish. Doerr married Monica Terpin on October 24, 1938, and they had one son; the union lasted 65 years until she died at age 88 on December 17, 2003 after suffering a number of strokes. He has carried on his quiet life since then.[citation needed]

On July 29, 2007, the Baseball Hall of Fame honored Doerr after the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn into the Hall. On August 2, 2007, the Red Sox held "Bobby Doerr Day" at Fenway Park where he rode along the warning track in a car, threw out the first pitch, and gave a speech.

Upon the death of former New York Yankee Phil Rizzuto in August 2007, Doerr became the oldest living player in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Among Hall of Fame members still living, only Lee MacPhail, a member for his contributions as a baseball executive, is older.

Bobby had a stroke on August 11, 2011. He is currently out of the hospital and is staying with his sister at this point. As of October 7, 2011, a close family member verifies that Bob had only a "minor procedure" and "bounced" out of it with no important after-effects.

Awards

Named AL Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1944)
Named second baseman on The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1944 and 1946)
Had his number retired by Boston Red Sox on May 21, 1988.

Career statistics
Batting average .288
Home runs 223
Runs batted in 1,247
Teams

Boston Red Sox (1937–1951)

Career highlights and awards

9× All-Star selection (1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951)
Boston Red Sox #1 retired

HOF, 1986, Veterans Committee

[Old Sweater]

First Team, Third Baseman, Ken Keltner



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Keltner

Kenneth Frederick Keltner (October 31, 1916 – December 12, 1991) was an American professional baseball player. He played almost his entire Major League Baseball career as a third baseman with the Cleveland Indians, until his final season when he played 13 games for the Boston Red Sox. He batted and threw right-handed.[1] Keltner is remembered for being one of the best fielding third basemen in the 1940s and for helping to end Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak on July 17, 1941.

Baseball career

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Keltner began his professional baseball career in 1936 playing for his hometown team, the Milwaukee Brewers, then a minor league team.[2] He made a rapid ascent through the minor leagues, and in 1938, the Cleveland Indians invited him to their spring training camp.[2] Keltner made the team and played in 149 games that season, posting a .276 batting average with 26 home runs and 113 runs batted in.[1]

On August 20, 1938, as part of a publicity stunt by the Come to Cleveland Committee, Indians' catchers Frankie Pytlak and Hank Helf successfully caught baseballs dropped by Keltner from Cleveland's 708-foot-tall (216 m) Terminal Tower.[3] The 708-foot (216 m) drop broke the 555-foot, 30-year-old record set by Washington Senator catcher Gabby Street at the Washington Monument.[2]

In 1939, Keltner improved his hitting statistics with a career-high .325 batting average along with 13 home runs and 97 runs batted in.[1] He also embellished his defensive reputation with a .974 fielding percentage, and leading American League third basemen with 40 double plays and 187 putouts, appearing in all 154 games.[2] Keltner earned his first All-Star berth in 1940.[4] In the 1941 All-Star Game, he spearheaded a ninth inning four-run rally as the American League fought back from a 5-3 deficit.[5] Keltner beat the throw to first base for an infield single to start the rally.[5] Three batters later, he scored on a groundout before Ted Williams followed with a two-out, game-ending, three-run home run.[5]

Two weeks later, in a game against the New York Yankees on July 17, 1941, Keltner became part of baseball history when he made two impressive, backhanded defensive plays against Joe DiMaggio, as the latter attempted to extend his 56-game hitting streak.[2] DiMaggio walked and grounded out in his other two at bats, as the hitting streak came to an end.[2] Keltner joined the United States Navy in 1945 and missed an entire season while serving in Hawaii.[2] He returned to play for the Indians in 1946, earning his sixth All-Star selection in the process.[6]

Keltner had a career-season in 1948, placing third in the American League home runs with 31 and posting career-highs with 119 runs batted in, 91 runs, and 89 walks, and placed fifth in the league with a .522 slugging average, helping Cleveland earn a first-ever one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox.[7] The Indians won the game 8-3 behind knuckleballer Gene Bearden, with the help of Keltner's single, double, and 3-run home run over the Green Monster in Fenway Park.[8][9] The Indians then went on to defeat the Boston Braves in the 1948 World Series.

Due to injuries, Keltner appeared in only 80 games in 1949.[2] A .232 average with eight homers and 30 runs batted in prompted the Indians to release him after the season, replacing him at third base with Al Rosen.[2] He played with the Red Sox in 1950, appearing in only eight games at third and one at first (his only big league fielding appearance anywhere other than 1500 at third base).[2] Keltner concluded his major league career at only age 33. He played one more season in the minor leagues with the Sacramento Solons in 1951 before retiring as a player.

Career statistics

In a 13-season career, Keltner played in 1526 games, accumulating 1570 hits in 5683 at bats for a .276 career batting average along with 163 home runs and 852 runs batted in.[1] Keltner had 69 triples, 308 doubles, accumulated 39 stolen bases and scored 737 runs.[1] He led American League third basemen four times in assists, five times in double plays, twice in fielding percentage and twice in range factor, ending his career with a .965 fielding percentage.[1][2] At the time of Keltner's retirement, only Willie Kamm and Heinie Groh had higher career fielding percentages among retired major league third basemen.[11] Keltner made 7 All-Star teams in 13 seasons. When he left the Indians, he was in the Top 5 in many of their all-time hitting records.

After his retirement as a player, Keltner served as a scout for the Indians and the Red Sox.[2] He was inducted into the Wisconsin Sports Hall of Fame in 1970.[12] Keltner was also inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame, the Ohio Baseball Hall of Fame and was named to the 100 Greatest Cleveland Indians in 2001.[2][13] Keltner was the subject of a brief campaign for the Baseball Hall of Fame. While he was never a popular candidate, his candidacy gave rise to the Keltner List of writer Bill James - a list of questions designed to guide thinking on the Hall of Fame.

He died in his home state of Wisconsin at age 75 of a heart attack.

Career statistics
Batting average .276
Home runs 163
Runs batted in 852
Teams

Cleveland Indians (1937–1944, 1946–1949)
Boston Red Sox (1950)

Career highlights and awards

7× All-Star (1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1948)
World Series champion (1948)

[Old Sweater]

First Team, Shortstop, Lou Boudreau



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Boudreau

Louis "Lou" Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001) was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970. He was also a radio announcer for the Chicago Cubs of the National League.

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

Boudreau was an eight-time All Star Game selection, starting three times. He won the 1944 AL batting title (.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946.

Early life

Boudreau was born in Harvey, Illinois, to a father of French ancestry and a Jewish mother.[1][2][3] He was raised Catholic.[4] Boudreau graduated from Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois. While at Thorton, Boudreau guided the "Flying Clouds" to three straight Illinois high school championship games, finishing first in 1933 and second in 1934 and 1935.[5]

He also graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, excelling in sports at both schools. He was captain of the basketball and baseball teams at the University of Illinois, when Cleveland Indians general manager Cy Slapnicka paid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians following graduation. Boudreau's father complained to the Big Ten Conference, and league officials ruled him ineligible for collegiate sports. During his junior and senior years at Illinois, he played pro basketball with the Hammond All-Americans of the National Basketball League.

Jewish heritage

Boudreau has been counted in recent years on lists of Jewish baseball players.[6][7] As his mother's parents were practicing Jews,[6] he qualifies as a Jew according to the usual standard. On the other hand, his parents divorced when he was 7 years old, and he was raised by his father as a Christian. Furthermore, Boudreau did not publicly identify as a Jew during his career, as did Hank Greenberg and other contemporaries. Boudreau's 1993 autobiography does not contain the words "Jew", "Jewish", or "Judaism".

Career

Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9, 1938 for the Cleveland Indians, at the age of 21, playing first base in a single game. In 1939, manager Ossie Vitt informed Boudreau, who normally played third base, that he would have to move to shortstop as Ken Keltner already had the regular third base job.[9]

In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46 doubles and 101 RBI. He was also selected to play in his first All Star Game.

Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the 56-game hitting streak by Joe DiMaggio. After Ken Keltner made two fine stops at third base earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad hop grounder at short barehanded and started a double play to retire Dimaggio.[10] He finished the season with a .257 batting average and a league leading 45 doubles. He also turned 134 double plays in 1944, the most ever by a player-manager in Major League history.

After the season, owner Alva Bradley promoted manager Roger Peckinpaugh to general manager and appointed Boudreau as the player-manager. Boudreau was 25 years old. Boudreau managed the Indians throughout World War II. Playing basketball had put a strain on Boudreau's ankles which later developed arthritis and he was classified 4-F and thus, ineligible for military service.[9] Upon assuming ownership in 1947, Bill Veeck, after being approached by Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides. Although the results were personally contentious, they did win the World Series in 1948, Cleveland's first championship in 28 years, and both Boudreau and Veeck were public in admitting the other's role in the success.

Relieved of his Cleveland managerial duties following the 1950 season, he was released as a player by Cleveland and signed with the Boston Red Sox, playing full-time in 1951 and becoming the team's player-manager in 1952 and as manager in 1953 and 1954. He became the first manager was of the Kansas City Athletics in 1955, after their move from Philadelphia. He was fired after 104 games in 1957, replaced by Harry Craft. He served as the manager of the Chicago Cubs in 1960.

Through 2010, he was third all-time in career hits (behind Shawn Green), fourth in batting average (behind Buddy Myer), and fifth in RBIs (behind Sid Gordon) among Jewish major league baseball players.[11]

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970 with 77.33% of the vote. The same year, Boudreau had his number (5) retired by the Cleveland Indians.

Boudreau Shift

Boudreau is credited with inventing the infield shift, and it came to be known colloquially as the "Boudreau Shift." Boudreau, noticing that Red Sox great Ted Williams was a dead-pull hitter, moved most of his players to right of second base whenever Williams was at bat, leaving only the third baseman and left fielder with any range on the left side of the infield--and they, too, were shifted very close to second base, far away from their normal positions. Williams notably refused the obvious advice from teammates to either start hitting in the opposite direction or at least casually bunt the ball to third base, thus forcing the opposing teams to play him more "honest." Williams stubbornly refused to change his swing or his approach, and yet his hitting ability didn't suffer when teams put the Boudreau Shift on.

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 victory," wrote Lou Boudreau in his book, Player-Manager.

Lou Boudreau Award

The Lou Boudreau Award is given every year to the Cleveland Indians' Minor League Player of the Year.

Broadcasting

Boudreau served as an announcer for the Cubs in 1958 and 1959 before switching roles with manager Charlie Grimm in 1960. After one season as Cubs manager, Boudreau returned to the radio booth and remained there until 1987. Boudreau also served as the Chicago Bulls' radio play by play announcer from 1966–1968.

Having a knowledgeable Hall of Fame announcer also affected at least one game. In the 1970s the Cubs were losing by 6 runs in the 4th inning in the 2nd game of a double header, when the umpires called the game due to darkness (no lights yet at Wrigley Field). It was announced that the game would be picked up at the same point tomorrow, as normally happened. But Boudreau knew the ground rules better than anyone else in the park, it turned out, for he went down quickly to the clubhouse and pointed out to the umps that if a game is not yet an official game, the whole game must be replayed (as in a rainout). The umpires looked it up, agreed with Boudreau, and wiped out the 6 run deficit for the Cubs.

Personal

Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938 and they had four children. His daughter Sharyn married Denny McLain, a former star pitcher with the Detroit Tigers.

Boudreau died in 2001 in Frankfort, Illinois and is interred in Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

Career statistics
Batting average .295
Hits 1,779
Runs batted in 789
Teams

As player

Cleveland Indians (1938–1950)
Boston Red Sox (1951–1952)

As manager

Cleveland Indians (1942–1950)
Boston Red Sox (1952–1954)
Kansas City Athletics (1955–1957)
Chicago Cubs (1960)

Career highlights and awards

8× All-Star (1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948)
World Series champion (1948)
1948 AL MVP
Cleveland Indians #5 retired

HOF, 1970, BBWAA, 77.33% ninth ballot