Lou Brock, 1939 - 2020

Lou Brock was not quite 25 years old when the Cubs traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals for righthander Ernie Broglio on June 15, 1964. At the time of the trade, the Cubs were 27-27, in sixth place in the National League, and the Cardinals were 28-31, in eighth place.

    

LOU BROCK

The Cubs went 49-59 the rest of the way and finished eighth. Meanwhile, Brock hit a robust .348 for the Cardinals, sparking them to a 69-38 record for the remainder of the season. St. Louis won the pennant and then upset the New York Yankees in the World Series. 

     The Redbirds also won the world championship in 1967 and the National League pennant in 1968.

     Broglio, only 28 himself at the time of the trade, had already won 70 games for the Cardinals--including 21 in 1960 and 18 in 1963. He won only seven for the Cubs, while losing 19, and retired in 1966.
     When Brock retired after the 1979 season, he had accumulated over 3,000 hits, scored 1,600 runs, and was baseball's all-time leading base stealer (his stolen-base record was later broken by Rickey Henderson). Brock entered the Hall of Fame in 1985. He passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

     "If I'd been here [in Chicago]," Brock once said, "the Cubs would have won the pennant in '68 and '69." He was being immodest, but he was probably right.

 

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