Cleveland Indians: Top 5 managers in team history

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BOSTON – OCTOBER 11, 1948. The Cleveland Indians celebrate their World Series win over the Braves in Boston on October 11, 1948. (L-R) are coach Bill McKechnie, owner Bill Veeck, and manager Lou Boudreau (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

Pick Analysis. Lou Boudreau. player. Scouting Report. 1942-50. Manager. 2. 5

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728-469 record
Player Manager
1948 World Series Champion
Two 90+ win season
National Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee
First all-time on Indians managerial win list

Like Speaker, Lou Boudreau was a player-manager who would lead the Cleveland Indians to a World Series title.

Boudreau spent eight seasons as a player-manager for the Indians, where he won 728 games, which still stands as a franchise record. He guided the Tribe to a pair of 90 win seasons, but he never performed better than in 1948.

In 1948 Boudreau’s Indians finished the regular season 97-58 beating out the Boston Red Sox by one game for the American League title.
The Indians, led by Boudreau’s leadership and play at shortstop, would take down the Boston Braves in six games to win their second world series title.

Still, to this day, the Indians have yet to win a World Series ever since, meaning Boudreau is the last Cleveland manager to a win a World Series.

After leaving Cleveland after the 1950 season, he went onto finish his playing career with the Red Sox (1951-52) and served as Boston’s manager from 1952-54. Boudreau also managed the Kansas City Athletics (1955-57) and Chicago Cubs (1960) before stepping away from the game.

His No. 5 is retired by the Indians and he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a player in 1970.

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