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Burdette belongs in Hall of Fame
Lew Burdett
Thank you for including the obituary of Lew Burdett in the summer issue of the alumni magazine. I was on the baseball team with Burdette in 1946.
My late brother-in-law, Stuart Cogbill, caught most of the games that Lew pitched. Stuart told me several times that his hand, even with a thick sponge in the catcher’s mitt, would be swollen. Lew was a hard-throwing right hander who only threw one pitch, a fastball. He also was a complete-game pitcher, nine innings. I don’t recall Burdette ever being pulled for a reliever.
I have written numerous letters [to University officials] urging that Burdette be inducted into the U of R Athletic Hall of Fame. The response was that his record was not that good when he was a Spider. But Lew pitched for a weak-hitting Spider baseball team. The only player with a batting average above .300 was Bernard Donner, our shortstop.
—William T. Stubbs, R’50
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