Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Fame Leftfielder Lou Brock. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1961-1979):

.293 BA, 3,023 HITS, 149 HR, 900 RBI, 1,610 RUNS, .343 OBP

  • 6x All-Star
  • 2x World Series Champion
  • 8x NL Stolen Base Leader
  • 1975 Roberto Clemente Award

Brock had excellent baserunning skills after spending his first three full seasons with the Chicago Cubs; however, he wasn’t allowed to hit in the leadoff spot, with him only hitting .257 during his time with the Cubs. The Cubs decided to trade him to no other than their arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals, with the intent of making him their leadoff hitter, in mid-1964. Let’s say Lou Brock was destined to be a St. Louis Cardinal. In the 103 games to finish 1964, Brock hit .348 and stole 33 bases. When the Cardinals traded for him, they were in eighth place, and that year they’d end up beating the New York Yankees in seven games to win the 1964 World Series.

Throughout his career with the Cardinals six times, Brock scored 100 or more Runs and led the majors in Stolen Bases eight times. In 1974, at the age of 35, Brock stole 118 bases. He also broke the all-time career Stolen Base record in 1977, which the great Ty Cobb held. Since then, the records were broken by no other than Rickey Henderson. Lou Brock was a hitter, too, not just a plain old singles hitter. He was also suitable for Doubles and Triples, leading the majors with 46 Doubles and 14 Triples in 1968. Career-wise, he averaged 187 Hits over a 162 Game Average.

I’d need to do more homework on Cubs history, but considering what Lou Brock became in St. Louis, that may be the worst trade in Cubs history. Heck, in 1979, against the Chicago Cubs, Brock recorded his 3,000th career Hit. His .391 World Series average is the highest of any player to ever appear in at least 20 World Series games. Brock was also a player and a man of character, being awarded the Roberto Clemente Award in 1975 and the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1977.

References:

  1. Lou Brock Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brocklo01.shtml
  2. Lou Brock via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Brock#