Lou Brock (#285)

My labels in the sidebar tell me that I've not been paying enough attention to the Athletics, Cardinals, Giants, or Senators. This is particularly troublesome with the Cardinals, since they were world champs in 1967, so...

Lou Brock was one of many stars on the 1967 Cardinals team. Bob Gibson was the league's dominant pitcher. Orlando Cepeda crashed numerous homeruns. Brock, besides batting leadoff and stealing a gazillion bases, was voted a starter in the all-star game, pushing Willie Mays to the all-star bench after 14 straight all-star starts from 1957 to 1966!

Brock started in the Cubs system in 1961, and was traded to the Cardinals in June 1964 in a 3-for-3 deal which included pitcher Ernie Broglio going to the Cubs.



The back of this card mentions that "Out in right field, Lou is a pitcher's best friend." Although Brock played right field during his time with the Cubs, he was almost exclusively a leftfielder during his years with the Cardinals. His only significant time in right field for the Cardinals was starting the first 23 games there in 1966.

The card backs never include stolen bases, so since that was Brock's forte, let's check this out. From 1966 to 1974, Brock led the league in stolen bases 8 of the 9 seasons.

Lou retired after the 1979 season (at age 40), still an every day player right up to the end of his career.