Around 9 o'clock tonight, the smoggy serenity of Cleveland's lakefront will be split by one hell of a yell: Lou Boudreau will have returned to Municipal Stadium and some 60,000 teary voices will rise together in protest that he should have never left. The average Cleveland baseball fan is funny that way; a sentimentalist, he would still prefer the Indians in the second division under Boudreau than on top (as they currently are) under somebody else.

No formal celebration has been planned for tonight, largely because the present Indian management, which cased Boudreau out, wasn't particularly partial to the idea. However, the arrival of Boundreau and the Red Sox in Cleveland yesterday was enough to chase off page one the story of the trade bringing the Athletics Lou Brissie to the Tribe. Instead, pictures and reams of Boudreau interview copy took its place. The newspapers, apparently, were trying to give the people what they wanted.

Even the die-hards will admit that the change of scenery seems to have benefitted both the former Boy Manager and the Indians. Boudreau is hitting a neat 344, fielding well, and most important to Boston rooters, seems to have injected a little fire into the perennial also-rans. Cleveland, similarly, is off to a rare good start. How much the managing of Al Lopez is responsible for the early spurt remains to be determined.

But the Cleveland fans, who suffered with Boudreau for nine years, still find it hard to locate in Lopez the personal magnetism that Boudreau generated. Nor can they forget the Sunday afternoon against the Yankees in 1948 when Boudreau dragged himself to the plate, a mass of liniment and tape, and delivered a pinch single that won a crucial game. And the Boudreau shift, the two home runs at Fenway Park when the Tribe won the play-off from the Red Sox, the flawless double plays--all are permanent parts of the Cleveland scene.

So tonight, the little people whose purchase of a grandstand seat keeps club owners in Candillacs and the upper brackets will stand up to be counted. Many who grew used to Number Five in white may not find it easy to think of Number Four in gray as the same guy. But when Boudreau steps up to the plate and points his fanny due north in his inimitable crouch, they'll remember well. And they'll hope he gets five for five and fields flawlessly, even if it means the ball game for the Indians.

Later on in the season, if the Indians and the Red Sox are fighting it out for first place, they may change their sentiments. But for tonight, Boudreau will be king.