Lou Brock
1939 - 2020
In what has been a very bad week in the Sports Legends Departure Lounge, the news arrived yesterday that Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinal great Lou Brock died at the age of 81.
In 1964, the Chicago Cubs made what everyone felt was great deal for them when they sent young outfielder Brock to St. Louis for pitcher Ernie Broglio. If you follow baseball, you know what happened: Broglio proved to be washed up, and Brock went on to, well, become Lou Brock, and "Brock-for-Broglio" has become the yardstick against which all bad baseball trades are measured.
Here are the raw numbers...19 seasons...over 3,000 hits...938 stolen bases (the MLB record at the time of his retirement)...first ballot HOF'er. And here are some even more impressive stats. In three World Series with the Cardinals (1964-67-68), Brock played in 21 games, hit .391 with 4 HR, 16 RBI, and 14 SB. That is performing when the stakes are the absolute highest. As I often say in such instances, I can only imagine how badly Cardinals fans all over are feeling today.
However, I have a more personal recollection of Lou Brock that has nothing to do with anything he ever did on the diamond. As many of you know, Marilyn's maiden name is Moellenbrock (if you think "Sproule" gets mispronounced a lot...), and when we were dating my Dad took to calling her "Molly", a derivation of that last name, and he would invariably follow up by saying "Molly Brock. Are you related to Lou Brock?" It is something that we have laughed about for almost 48 years now, and it's another fond memory that Marilyn has of her late father-in-law, and if the mention of Lou Brock's name triggers such a memory, I am thinking that Lou himself would be pleased about it.
RIP Lou Brock.
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