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.

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.

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.

It's a beautiful night for baseball. 82 degrees were I am at the moment, and 72 degrees in the Oakland "O.Co." Coliseum near The Bay. Not a cloud in the sky.

I'll be on the train in 15 minutes, and in my seat by first pitch. Got a later start than expected.

Have fun, CALI!

My man Hannahan!

All 3 rbi's....

Manny-you had to bunt Kotchman in the eight.
Most of the time he hits the baseball into the ground!

Classic Pestano and Perez save.

We win.

There were a good number of Tribe Fans scattered around near me. Probably at least 75 to 100 I could easily see along the left field line, and I couldn't see the fans behind The Tribe dugout.

Question.

On the train ride home I know I saw an early story on the internet that stated Shelley Duncan robbed Jemile Weeks of a homer in the 7th but couldn't hang onto the ball resulting in a triple.

That wasn't the way I saw the play real time (from 200 feet away) and now I'm not finding whatever article I surfed that made the claim.

I saw the play as a ball at the wall that Duncan could have caught but he dropped it or it hit off his glove....and not close to any HR line.

I know in the 5th Duncan let Cespedes advance to 2nd on his RBI single. Duncan let loose with a late lame throw that missed all cutoff men and dropped between first and second. That might have been one of the lamest throws I've seen from a major leaguer.

Paul Hoynes writes: "A triple by Jemile Weeks -- left fielder Shelley Duncan saved it from being a home run"

civ ollilavad wrote:Paul Hoynes writes: "A triple by Jemile Weeks -- left fielder Shelley Duncan saved it from being a home run"

Thanks, Civ. I've sorted through available highlights and haven't found that one.

From my view I didn't think it was close to being a home run, but I WAS 200 feet from the play. The coliseum replay only showed a long distance angle of Duncan.


Back on the subject of Duncan, two girl A's fans on the train told me that Duncan was getting heckled pretty hard by a guy somewhere in left. Easy mocking stuff about his name being "Shelley," and referencing his feminine play in the field.

The girls were impressed that after continued heckles, Duncan put his fingers to his mouth in an apparent kiss and then moved the kissed fingers to his backside noting what the heckler could do.

Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:

Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:
Kipnis short circuited on his errant throw home, but he'll be fine.

Kipnis had the nifty head first slide and hand swipe of home that ended up being the winning run. When I saw him trying to score, I thought for sure he was going to be out.

He'll be fine.

ND Dawg wrote:Manny-you had to bunt Kotchman in the eight.
Most of the time he hits the baseball into the ground!

Kotchman has solid, solid D.

He may not hit at all for average, but he'll end up with 20 HR's this season and will make pitchers and managers think about him a bit every time he bats. That'll get him some walks and get the OBP up.

I think to this early point of the season he's a bit mixed up at the plate and he will certainly improve.