The family of legendary scout Lou Maguolo will be honored at a reception on Sunday at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in recognition of their donating 250 of his scouting reports from his nearly forty years as a scout to the Hall.
Among the more than 40 major-league players Maguolo signed as a scout for the St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees between 1936 and 1975 were Elston Howard, Whitey Herzog, Tony Kubek, Roy Sievers, Lee Thomas, Bill Skowron, Jim Bouton and Norm Siebern.
Forty family members and friends left St. Louis on a chartered bus on Friday to be on hand for Sunday’s reception.
Maguolo, who died in 1977 at the age of 78, worked out of St. Louis scouting Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and parts of Kentucky. The donated scouting reports are now included in the Hall of Fame archives and will eventually be available online to the public as part of the Hall’s digital collection. Included are 81 individual reports on amateur and professional players from the early 1960s through the 1970s and 169 team reports from games Maguolo scouted in the 1970s.
The Hall began collecting scouting reports in 2013 and now has more than 3,500 reports in its archives.
It was while Maguolo was working for the Yankees that he hired legendary scout Art Stewart, reportedly advising him that as a scout he should, “Keep your eyes open, keep your ears open, keep your mouth shut.”
The scouting reports and other parts of Maguolo’s collection had remained in the family’s possession until his niece, Kay Boggiano McDonald, died two years ago. Maguolo even nicknamed his home office “Lou’s Dugout” and his niece recreated the office in her home after he died.
Maguolo grew up in St. Louis and was an all-city outfielder at Yeatman High School, where he also was the quarterback of the football team, before going on to Washington University, where he played baseball and graduated with a degree in civil engineering.
After graduation he pursued a baseball career instead, first coaching at McKinley and Beaumont high schools while also working as a part-time scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cardinals before going to work for the Browns in 1936.
He became the head scout for the Browns until entering the Army in 1942. He was hired by the Yankees in 1947 and worked as their chief Midwest scout until their mandatory retirement policy made him give up his full-time position in 1970. He continued to work part-time until 1975.
Maguolo’s family includes 12 nieces and nephews, three of whom are from St. Louis – John McDonald, Patricia Renschen and Theresa Wells – and five who live in Illinois – Mary McDonald, Elizabeth Ring, Joseph McDonald and Paul McDonald, all of Springfield, Ill., and Michael McDonald of Effingham, Ill.
