Customer Reviews

Lou Boudreau: Covering All the Bases

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To lead off, the author of the book was long-time Cleveland, OH, print media sports reporter/columnist Russell Schneider. When Schneider retired from his post at The Plain Dealer - still a major daily at the time - he wrote a weekly column for a minor weekly newspaper chain and turned his attention to a variety of book projects, including Covering All The Bases.

Boudreau was a legend in Cleveland as an all-star shortstop and player/manager - taking the helm at age 24. The 1948 team - one of the greatest in MLB history - went from world champions to the big screen, starring in a typical sports film at the time, The Kid From Cleveland.

The Hall-of-Famer was also known by millions of Cubs fans for his nearly three decades of work on radio broadcasts on WGN. Boudreau also had a brief stint playing pro basketball in the National Basketball League, the forerunner to the National Basketball Association.

With nearly a lifetime of professional baseball to reflect upon, it is surprising that Schneider focuses so much on Boudreau's statistics rather than drawing out anecdotes to highlight the achievements. Schneider does a good job having Boudreau comment on his controversial loss of collegiate eligibility at the University of Illinois for signing a letter of intent to play for Cleveland upon graduating, but there are really no journalistic high points afterwards.

A series of book signings in northeast Ohio were greatly scaled back due to Boudreau's worsening health problems. Though even more than a decade after the publication, there are still new autographed books available for readers who like to comb through bookstores in northeast Ohio.

For baseball fans who enjoy statistics over ruminations, Covering All The Bases is a hit. But Schneider could have done so much more to make Boudreau's career come to life.