"Lou swapped his Senators flannels for a Red Sox uniform last season. Although he didn't see much action, Lou can be depended upon to furnish defensive strength for Boston.
Lou attended Santa Clara University before making baseball his career."
-1959 Topps No. 96
BERBERET FINDS A PLATE TO CALL HOME
Three-Club Discard Catches On As A Tiger Catcher
"They laughed when Lou Berberet missed two pop flies in a row.
But the stocky Tiger catcher did some laughing of his own after that.
After rebuffs from other American League clubs, it appeared this spring that 'Lulu' had finally found a home behind the plate at Detroit's Briggs Stadium. He could be the answer to the Tigers' long search for a backstop with strong left-handed power, although it is too early for a verdict.
'Winning catcher: Berberet' became a happy slogan around the clubhouse during the Tigers' happy revival under manager Jimmie Dykes.
Some 23 times in the Tigers' first 30 games this year the roly-poly Berberet was their starting catcher. This was no mean feat for the newcomer. The man he had to beat out of a regular job was Bob (Red) Wilson, who just happened to have the best season of his career in 1958.
How did he do it? The answer is simple, according to Dykes.
'He's calling the right pitches and he's swinging a hot bat,' offered the genial Tiger skipper as Berberet caught eight of the Tigers' first nine victories this spring.
'Forget about those pop flies he dropped. That's liable to happen to anyone, especially with the sun and wind the way they were that day. I told Lou the same thing. Sure, he's a slow runner and you can't do anything about that. But he's a pretty good receiver and I like the way he hits that ball.'
So did Dykes' predecessor, Bill Norman. 'Berberet can win the job with his bat,' Norman said in spring training and Lou must have been listening. He didn't get started under Norman, but once Dykes took over his bat began to sing.
More important, Berberet started finding the home run range at Briggs Stadium with three upper-deck blasts in five days.
This didn't exactly surprise Lou. 'This is my park,' he said with a wave toward the right field stands with their 325-foot target on the foul line. 'I've wanted to play here regularly ever since I got to the American League.'
Berberet, who belonged to the Yankees, Senators and Red Sox before the Tigers acquired him last December, feels he never had a real chance before this year. 'I guess 15 or 18 games in a row was the most I ever played at one time,' he explains. 'That was at Washington in 1956- when both the other catchers were hurt.'
A former Santa Clara football player who finds his blocking skill handy in baseball, Lou discovered Yogi Berra in his way when he tried to graduate from the Yankee farm system in 1954 and 1955. He wasn't alone. Gus Triandos and Hal Smith were in the same predicament, and all three were traded off by the Yankees.
Berberet went to the Senators in a package deal for Maury McDermott. Although playing in nearly 100 games each season, he was overshadowed in Washington by Clint Courtney and after two years was passed along to the Boston Red Sox.
There he found Sammy White fading behind the plate. 'But when I got a chance to beat him out of the job, I ran into a lot of tough luck,' Berberet explains. 'I was hitting the ball well, but all line drives were right at someone.'
Then came his trade to Detroit last December and what Lou calls 'the best break of my life.'
It appears the Tigers also got the better of the swap. Pitcher Herb Moford, the man they gave up to get Berberet, was shipped to the minor leagues in May."
-Hal Middlesworth, Detroit Free Press (Baseball Digest, July 1959)
