Lou Brock, the first-ballot electee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, was one of baseball's signature leadoff hitters and base stealers who helped the St. Louis Cardinals win three pennants and two World Series titles in the 1960s. Brock played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, with 16 of those for the Cardinals. He is one of 32 players to hit 3,000 hits or more and had the all-time leader in stolen bases in MLB history with 938 in 1979 when he retired, surpassed by Rickey H... moreLou Brock, the first-ballot electee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, was one of baseball's signature leadoff hitters and base stealers who helped the St. Louis Cardinals win three pennants and two World Series titles in the 1960s. Brock played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, with 16 of those for the Cardinals. He is one of 32 players to hit 3,000 hits or more and had the all-time leader in stolen bases in MLB history with 938 in 1979 when he retired, surpassed by Rickey Henderson the current record holder with 1,406.
An outfielder, Lou Brock began his career with the Chicago Cubs in 1961 before being traded to the Cardinals during the 1964 season. The trade ranks as the greatest in Cardinals franchise history, according to the team. On June 15, 1964, the Cardinals acquired Brock, a raw, 24-year-outfielder from the Chicago Cubs in a trade that cost them popular right-hander Ernie Broglio, who had been a 18-game winner for them the prior season although he was 3-5 in 1964 and perhaps injured. Immediately, the trade was not well received by the Cardinals’ players but Brock, not counted on for power but as a table setter for the Cardinals, would hit .348 the rest of the 1964 season and steal 33 bases as the Cardinals rallied to win the National League pennant on the last day of the regular season and went on to beat the New York Yankees in a seven-game World Series to bring St. Louis its first World Series title since 1946.
In 1977, Brock passed Ty Cobb’s all-time stolen base mark of 892 and he led the league in steals every year but one from 1966-74. He once said the only sure way to stop him was to “don’t let me reach first base.” Brock considered base stealing a philosophic, as much as a physical action. In his memoir, “the most important thing about base stealing is not the steal of the base, but distracting the pitcher’s concentration. If I can do that, then the hitter will have a better pitch to swing at and I will get a better chance to steal.”
In retirement Brock continued to be a fighter when he suffered a stroke and heart ailment. In 2015, he had his left leg amputated below the knee due to a diabetes-related infection. His life in some jeopardy at one point, Brock rebounded less than six months later to stand, unaided, as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day 2016. Brock announced on April 13, 2017, that he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow's plasma cells. On July 28, 2017, Brock and his wife said they had received word from Mercy Hospital's doctors that, according to their blood tests, the cancerous cells were gone.
Brock was born June 18, 1939, in El Dorado, Arkansas, and grew up in Louisiana and was fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Although he didn't play in organized baseball until he reached the 11th grade, he learned much about the sport from listening to Cardinals radio broadcasting. After attending high school in Mer Rouge, Louisiana, he received academic assistance to attend Southern University in Baton Rouge, but when a low grade in his first semester meant the possibility of losing his scholarship, he decided to try out for the school's baseball team in order to secure an athletic scholarship. Brock, who lived in St. Charles, was survived by his wife, Jackie, daughter Wanda, sons Lou Jr. and Emory, and stepchildren Marvin Hay and Jacqueline Means, in addition to five grandchildren.
