in a playoff game. Then, Boudreau led the Indians to the WorldSeries Championship over the Boston Braves in six games.
Imagine if modern-day shortstop Jimmy Rollins, during his MVP year in 2007, also coached his team to the World Championship. That is what Lou Boudreau did in 1948.
Benny was also right that Lou Boudreau is known for the “The Williams Shift.” Just like Benny, Boudreau had been keeping notes. He knew that Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox, a left-handed slugger, hit the ball to the right side of the field 95 percent of the time. So when Ted Williams got up to bat, Boudreau shifted his fielders to the right side of the field. Other major league teams followed Boudreau’s lead and started using the shift against Ted Williams.
Did the shift work? Well, yes and no. There were times when Williams tried so hard to blast the ball past the fielders that he did not hit very well. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals used the shift against Williams in the 1946 World Series and theRed Sox star hit only .200 (5 singles in 25 at bats) with no home runs.
But the Williams Shift did not keep Ted Williams from being one of the greatest hitters of his era. In fact, Williams ended his career with .344 batting average and 521 home runs. Because, as Benny found out, no matter where the coach places the fielders, someone has to catch the ball to get the batter out. That’s playing baseball.
A BOUT THE A UTHOR
One of Fred Bowen’s earliest memories is watching the 1957 World Series with his brothers and father on the family’s black-and-white television in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Mr. Bowen was four years old.
When he was six years old, he was a batboy for his older brother Rich’s Little League team. At age nine, he played on a team himself, spending a great deal of time keeping the bench warm. By age eleven, he was a Little League All-Star.
Over a period of thirteen years, Mr. Bowen coached thirty-one different kids’ sports teams in soccer, baseball, softball, and basketball.
Mr. Bowen is the author of a number of sports novels for young readers. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife Peggy Jackson. His daughter is a college student and his son is a college baseball coach.
Mr. Bowen writes a weekly sports column for kids in the
Washington Post.
Visit his website at
www.fredbowen.com .
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Lee Boudreau photo courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY.
Copyright © 1996 by Fred Bowen
Cover design by Thomas Gonzalez and Maureen Withee
Book design by Melanie McMahon Ives
Peachtree Publishers
1700 Chattahoochee Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
www.peachtree-online.com
This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
Imagine if modern-day shortstop Jimmy Rollins, during his MVP year in 2007, also coached his team to the World Championship. That is what Lou Boudreau did in 1948.
Benny was also right that Lou Boudreau is known for the “The Williams Shift.” Just like Benny, Boudreau had been keeping notes. He knew that Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox, a left-handed slugger, hit the ball to the right side of the field 95 percent of the time. So when Ted Williams got up to bat, Boudreau shifted his fielders to the right side of the field. Other major league teams followed Boudreau’s lead and started using the shift against Ted Williams.
Did the shift work? Well, yes and no. There were times when Williams tried so hard to blast the ball past the fielders that he did not hit very well. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals used the shift against Williams in the 1946 World Series and theRed Sox star hit only .200 (5 singles in 25 at bats) with no home runs.
But the Williams Shift did not keep Ted Williams from being one of the greatest hitters of his era. In fact, Williams ended his career with .344 batting average and 521 home runs. Because, as Benny found out, no matter where the coach places the fielders, someone has to catch the ball to get the batter out. That’s playing baseball.
A BOUT THE A UTHOR
One of Fred Bowen’s earliest memories is watching the 1957 World Series with his brothers and father on the family’s black-and-white television in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Mr. Bowen was four years old.
When he was six years old, he was a batboy for his older brother Rich’s Little League team. At age nine, he played on a team himself, spending a great deal of time keeping the bench warm. By age eleven, he was a Little League All-Star.
Over a period of thirteen years, Mr. Bowen coached thirty-one different kids’ sports teams in soccer, baseball, softball, and basketball.
Mr. Bowen is the author of a number of sports novels for young readers. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife Peggy Jackson. His daughter is a college student and his son is a college baseball coach.
Mr. Bowen writes a weekly sports column for kids in the
Washington Post.
Visit his website at
www.fredbowen.com .
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Lee Boudreau photo courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY.
Copyright © 1996 by Fred Bowen
Cover design by Thomas Gonzalez and Maureen Withee
Book design by Melanie McMahon Ives
Peachtree Publishers
1700 Chattahoochee Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
www.peachtree-online.com
This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
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