Brock, Louis C.
Baseball
b. June 18, 1939, El Dorado, AR
The Chicago Cubs made one of the worst trades in baseball history when they sent Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals for three players during the 1964 season. None of the three players they received did much for the Cubs, while Brock led the NL in stolen bases 8 times, helped St. Louis get into 3 World Series in 5 years, and ended up in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A left-handed outfielder, the 5-foot-11, 175-pounder joined the Cubs briefly in 1961 and became a starting outfielder in 1962. He was batting .251 for the Cubs when the trade was made. After joining the Cardinals, he hit .348 for the rest of the season, finishing with a .315 average, 43 stolen bases, and 111 runs scored.
Although he didn't steal a base in the Cardinals' seven-game World Series victory over the New York Yankees, Brock batted .300 and had 5 RBI.
Brock won four consecutive stolen base titles, with 74 in 1966, 52 in 1967, 62 in 1968, and 53 in 1969. Although known mainly for his speed, he could also hit for power. In 1967, he led the Cardinals in extra-base hits with 32 doubles, 12 triples, and 21 home runs, and he drove in 76 runs from the leadoff spot, while leading the league in runs scored with 113.
The top hitter in the 1967 World Series with a .414 average, Brock stole 7 bases, scored 8 runs and drove in 3 as St. Louis beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games. He led the league in 1968 with 46 doubles and 14 triples, then batted .464 with 7 stolen bases and 6 runs scored in the World Series. However, the Cardinals were defeated by the Detroit Tigers in seven games.
In 1971, Brock led the league in steals once more with 64 and in runs scored with 126. He was the league leader in stolen bases the next three seasons, culminating in a remarkable performance in 1974: At the age of thirty-five, he had a record breaking 118 steals.
That was his last stolen base title, although he still had good numbers until an injury slowed him in 1978. Brock retired after the 1979 season.
In 19 seasons and 2,616 games, Brock had a .293 average on 3,023 hits, including 486 doubles, 141 triples, 149 home runs, with 1,610 runs scored and 900 RBI. His 938 stolen bases was a major league record until 1991, when Rickey Henderson broke it.