Lou Brock
Lou Brock was a prominent Major League Baseball player, best known for his exceptional speed and batting prowess. Born in El Dorado, Arkansas, and raised on cotton plantations in Louisiana, Brock developed an interest in baseball at a young age. He played for Southern University before signing with the Chicago Cubs in 1960. Brock's breakthrough moment came after being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964, where he transformed into a star player, leading the team to a World Series victory that year.
He was renowned for his base-stealing ability, setting a then-record of 118 stolen bases in a single season in 1974, a record that stood until 1982. Brock also achieved significant batting success, amassing over 3,000 hits and hitting above .300 eight times in his career. After retiring in 1979, Brock remained an influential figure in baseball, later being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985. Throughout his life, he faced health challenges, including diabetes and multiple myeloma, and he passed away at the age of 81 in 2020. Brock's legacy endures, highlighting the impact of speed and skill in baseball history.
Lou Brock
- Born: June 18, 1939
- Birthplace: El Dorado, Arkansas
- Died: September 6, 2020
- Place of death: St. Louis, Missouri
Baseball player
During his Hall of Fame baseball career, Brock helped lead the St. Louis Cardinals to three National League pennants and two World Series championships. His 118 stolen bases in 1974 set a record that stood until 1982. His career 938 steals stood as a major-league record for twelve years.
Area of achievement: Sports: baseball
Early Life
Louis Clark Brock’s childhood was spent on cotton plantations in Louisiana. He was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, and his parents moved to Collinston, Louisiana, soon thereafter. Brock never really knew his father. His mother did menial jobs in town and on the plantations and emphasized the importance of education to her children. It was not until age twelve that Brock developed an interest in baseball, but his talent was soon recognized. As a fourteen-year-old freshman, Brock became a starting left-handed pitcher and cleanup batter for Union High School in Mer Rouge.
Brock obtained a partial academic scholarship to Southern University in Baton Rouge but lost it when his grades slipped. In desperation, he tried out for the college baseball team, quickly impressed the coach, and received an athletic scholarship to continue his schooling. He made the transition from pitcher to outfielder and hit an astounding .545 in his sophomore year, leading Southern to the 1959 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship. The US Olympic Committee recruited Brock to play in the 1959 Pan-American Games in Chicago. The Chicago Cubs signed Brock in 1960 and gave him a bonus of thirty thousand dollars. Brock started the 1961 season at the Cubs’ Class C team in St. Cloud, Minnesota. When the Northern League season ended in August, Brock led the league in batting (.361), hits, runs, and doubles. Despite being a raw talent, the left-handed-hitting prospect received a call from the Cubs to finish the major league season in Chicago.
Life’s Work
Brock’s promotion to the major leagues in 1961 was a permanent one. The 1962 and 1963 seasons, however, called into question whether Brock would ever blossom into a star. Playing right field, he committed numerous errors, and his batting average over two and one-half seasons with the Cubs was a mediocre .257. On June 15, 1964, the Cubs traded Brock and two minor leaguers to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Ernie Broglio, reliever Bobby Shantz, and outfielder Doug Clemens. Broglio had won eighteen games in 1963, and Chicago sportswriters thanked rival St. Louis for apparently handing the Cubs the pennant. Pitcher Bob Gibson and first baseman Bill White, Cardinal team leaders, disparaged the trade. Before the transaction was finalized, a worried Bing Devine, general manager of the Cardinals, asked his manager, Johnny Keane, for his opinion. Supposedly Keane replied, “What are you waiting for?”
The Brock trade turned out to be one of the most lopsided in baseball history. Given a new lease on his baseball life, Brock excelled. Keane installed him in left field and gave Brock permission to steal bases whenever he chose. The Cardinals rallied behind Brock’s exploits, moving from seventh place on June 15 to capture the National League pennant. Brock hit .348 and stole 33 bases after coming to St. Louis. In the 1964 World Series against the New York Yankees, Brock hit .300 and smacked a home run in the decisive seventh game as the Cardinals won their first championship in thirty-eight years.
With better instruction and a more relaxed clubhouse, Brock flourished in the following years. One of the fastest runners in the major leagues, he mastered the art of base-stealing. In 1964 and 1965, he finished second to Maury Wills in the National League in steals. From 1966 to 1974, however, Brock finished first in steals every year except 1970, when he was again second. In 1974 he broke Wills’s single-season steals record with 118 heists. That record stood until 1982, when Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics stole 130 bases. Brock’s 118, however, remained the National League record.
Often overlooked is Brock’s hitting prowess. Eight times in his nineteen-year career, he hit over .300. In his career, he amassed 3,023 hits, a formidable feat. In the 1967 and 1968 World Series, Brock terrorized the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers with batting averages of .414 and .464, respectively. In each series he stole 7 bases, with the Cardinals winning in 1967 and losing in 1968. Perhaps Brock’s finest season was 1974, when he set the major-league steals record and hit .306. He finished second in voting for the National League’s most valuable player award.
When Brock retired from baseball in 1979, the Cardinals retired his number 20 jersey. He remained a beloved figure in the St. Louis community, and he pursued various business ventures and became an ordained minister in his St. Louis church. In 2010, Brock accepted the Cardinals’ annual invitation to be a spring training instructor.
Later in life Brock's health declined, and he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. In 2015 his left leg was amputated below the knee due to complications from the disease. In 2017 he was diagnosed with the blood cancer multiple myeloma. Brock died at the age of eighty-one on September 6, 2020.
Significance
The importance of speed in baseball has ebbed and flowed. Brock, along with Wills and Henderson, was a pivotal figure in accentuating that dimension of baseball strategy. Brock’s potent bat and threats to steal often disrupted the opposing pitcher and defense. With stars such as Brock, White, Gibson, and Curt Flood, the Cardinals were perennial contenders for the playoffs in the 1960s and 70s. Brock’s election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, his first year of eligibility, is a testament to the impact he had on the national pastime.
Bibliography
Brock, Lou, and Franz Schulze. Stealing Is My Game. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976.
Devine, Bing, and Tom Wheatley. The Memoirs of Bing Devine: Stealing Lou Brock and Other Winning Moves by a Master GM. Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing, 2004.
Feldman, Doug. El Birdos: The 1967 and 1968 St. Louis Cardinals. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007.
Goldstein, Richard. "Lou Brock, Baseball Hall of Famer Known for Stealing Bases, Dies at 81." The New York Times, 6 Sept. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/sports/baseball/lou-brock-dead.html. Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.
Halberstam, David. October 1964. New York: Villard Books, 1994.