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AL Central: Greatest Individual Season In Each Team’s History

By Benno Martens

Sep 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) motions to the crowd after hitting a home run during the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) motions to the crowd after hitting a home run during the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Cleveland Indians – Lou Boudreau (1948)

Aug 18, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; The glove and hat of Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) rest on the third base wall prior to a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

The name Lou Boudreau is likely not the first, or even the tenth, to come to mind when one thinks about the history of professional baseball in Cleveland. Not with a cast of characters that includes Napoleon Lajoie, Tris Speaker, Earl Averill, Al Rosen, Larry Doby, and Jim Thome, among many others. And while those names appear on the list of greatest individual season by a position player in Indians’ history, it’s Old Shufflefoot that stands at the top.

Boudreau was made player-manager by owner Alva Bradley after the 1941 season at the age of just 25, and he oversaw the last World Series title that Cleveland has seen to this day. That 1948 team included the likes of Doby, Joe Gordon, Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, and Satchel Paige, but it was Boudreau that had a season for the Indians’ record books.

Slashing .355/.453/.534 with 34 doubles, 18 home runs, 106 runs batted in, Boudreau guided the Tribe to a 97-58 record, just a game better than the Boston Red Sox, won AL Most Valuable Player, made his seventh all-star team, and beat the Boston Braves four games to two in the Fall Classic.

Boudreau’s 10.4 bWAR in 1948 bests that of anyone else in Indians’ history, and he remains third in career bWAR behind only Lajoie and Speaker. But as we’ve seen over the course of the past year, a new shortstop in a Cleveland uniform may give that mark some competition, as Francisco Lindor continues to be among the best in the AL at the age of just 22.

Next: Chasing Teddy Ballgame in KC.

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