Going with the kid

By the end of the 1941 season, Lou Boudreau has done well for himself in Cleveland.

Two full seasons in the major leagues.

Two All-Star Game selections.

The unequivocal on-field leader of the Indians, who in Boudreau’s first full season in 1940 finish just one game behind the American League pennant-winning Detroit Tigers.

The second season, though, finds Cleveland stumbling to fourth place, 26 games behind the eventual World Series-winning New York Yankees.

Roger Peckinpaugh

The uninspiring finish comes with manager Roger Peckinpaugh, who then decides one season in Cleveland’s dugout is enough and 82 years ago today kicks himself upstairs to become the team’s general manager.

His replacement: the kid, Lou Boudreau, the future Hall of Famer who just four months earlier celebrates his 24th birthday but nonetheless lobbies for the job that Peckinpaugh just vacates.

Initially, the team’s ownership group is not thrilled with replacing the experienced, 42-year-old Peckinpaugh with a brash, barely-out-of-the-minors shortstop young enough to be Peckinpaugh’s son.

Eventually, the directors greenlight Boudreau’s hire as manager, but only after making sure his coaching staff includes a couple of born-in-the-1800s old-timers in Burt Shotton and Oscar Melillo.

The move makes Boudreau the major leagues’ youngest manager since 1879, when pitcher Jim McCormick – all of 22 – manages the Cleveland Blues of the National League.

McCormick is the Blues’ player-manager for all or parts of three seasons, posting a forgettable record of 74-96.

Boudreau is far more successful managing a Cleveland team on which he remains the youngest everyday player.

Experience or lack of it does not seem to be a problem for Cleveland, which has six winning seasons during the nine summers Boudreau manages the team.

The highlight of that tenure comes in 1948 as Cleveland wins the World Series, a feat the franchise fails to repeat in 75 seasons since then.