Lou Boudreau: Covering All the Bases

Rating:
Summary: A demi-god tells less than all
Review: Few baseball players have had larger numbers of more devoted fans than Lou Boudreau, the great shortstop who played mainly for the Cleveland Indians from the late 1930s through early 1950s. If he had run for President, all of Cleveland would have voted for him. I may be his biggest fan still living. However, this autobiography, written with help from a ghost writer whose prose is no more than serviceable, leaves much to be desired. Boudreau is well aware of his icon status, and seems determined not to spoil it. We come away from this book knowing a lot of dates and statistics about his career as a player and manager, but not knowing enough about the man behind the facade. There are occasional flashes of drama, as when he discusses his dreadful relationship with his stepfather, who tried to ruin his athletic career by accusing him of violating his amateur status while at college. But by and large this is a disappointment. There was more excitement in a single Boudreau backhand stab on the edge of the infield, than in this entire book