Photo of Lou Brock, given to me by Joanna on our 25th anniversary, Sept. 4, 2001; hangs in my study, next to caricature of me, drawn by Joanna as we sat together in OBU library, March 4, 1973
In September 2001, Joanna and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. As an anniversary present, she gave me a framed picture of Lou Brock, which our son Travis had helped her pick out. It still hangs in my study, next to the caricature of me that Joanna drew while we were sitting together in the OBU library one evening, March 4, 1973, about six weeks after we started dating.
I had finally met Lou, whom I had idolized when I was a teenager, less than 5 months earlier, gotten his autograph(s), and chatted with him and his wife.
But more on that later.
On this date 85 years ago – June 18, 1939 – Louis Clark Brock, aka Lou Brock, was born in El Dorado, Arkansas.
This past Saturday marked the 60th anniversary – June 15, 1964 – of what most baseball historians still consider the most lopsided trade in baseball history. The St. Louis Cardinals traded starting pitcher Ernie Broglio to the Chicago Cubs for a young outfielder, Lou Brock, who had done little to distinguish himself to this point in his career.
But Cardinals GM Bing Devine and manager Johnny Keane saw potential in the young outfielder. At the time, the Cardinals were in 6th place in the National League. (Before divisional play began in 1969, anything below 5th place in either of the 10-team major leagues was known as the “second division.”)
The Memoirs of Bing Devine: Stealing Lou Brock and Other Winning Moves by a Master GM
Keane immediately put Brock in the starting lineup every day and turned the young speedster loose on the bases. He was allowed to run on instinct rather than having to wait for a signal from the bench. From his first day as a Cardinal, Lou went wild – both at the plate and on the basepaths.
I had turned 13 in March 1964. Living in KC, MO, I followed the Kansas City A’s, but they were dreadful, competing with the Washington Senators every year to stay out of the American League cellar.
In 1963, my parents had bought me a transistor radio. I soon discovered that I could pull in a station, KFEQ out of St. Joseph’s, MO, that carried the Cardinals’ games. When the Cardinals won 19 of 20 in September 1963 to fall just short of catching the Dodgers for the NL pennant, I was hooked on the cross-state Cardinals.
In June 1964, my parents signed me up for a two-week science and nature camp in KC’s Swope Park. So for two weeks, I slept outdoors in a tent, in the muggy Kansas City weather, went on hikes during the day, learning about the various flora, fauna, etc. And I hated it! (I even wrote a catchy little tune that became the talk of the camp, entitled “I wanta get out of camp!”)
My only solace was my transistor radio, on which I listened to the A’s and Cardinals games every evening. I don’t think I had heard of Lou Brock before the trade, but I quickly became fascinated by this guy who got into pitchers’ heads, taking long leads off of 1st base, then taking off and stealing 2nd, 3rd, and eventually scoring. Within the first few days after the trade, I had picked him as my favorite player.
This led to a friendly rivalry with Daddy. Just a month after Lou joined the Cardinals, the A’s called up a young Cuban shortstop from their farm club in Birmingham, Alabama, by the name of Dagoberto “Campy” Campaneris. Over the next few years, Lou and Campy would lead their respective leagues in stolen bases. Daddy picked Campy as his favorite player. Many were the times that either Daddy or I would say, “Did you see what ‘my guy’ did today?”
The rest is history. Lou went on to hit .348 the rest of the season and steal 33 bases (he had hit .251 & stolen 10 for the Cubs before the trade), leading the Cardinals to an improbable come-from-behind pennant run, beating out the Philadelphia Phillies – who had led the league by 6-1/2 games with just 10 games left – for the National League pennant.
Then he helped lead the Cardinals to a thrilling World Series win over the New York Yankees in seven games.
The Cardinals would go on to play in two more World Series in the next four years, winning in 1967 and losing in 1968. In 1967, Lou set a record of seven stolen bases in a World Series, then tied his own record the next year. To this day, Lou holds the all-time record of a .391 career World Series batting average for all players who have played 20 or more World Series games.
In 1974, Lou broke Maury Wills’s record with 118 stolen bases in a season. He would go on to break Ty Cobb’s career stolen base record, finishing with 938 when he retired at the end of the 1979 season.
In 1985, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, in his first year of eligibility. Ernie Broglio, by the way, who had compiled a pitching record of 70 wins and 55 losses before the trade, won only 7 games the rest of his career and lost 19. He never even sniffed the Hall of Fame.
Rickey Henderson went on to break both of Lou’s stolen base records. When Henderson broke the career stolen base record on May 1, 1991, Lou was on hand in Oakland to congratulate him. Unfortunately, Rickey wasn’t so gracious – in his remarks, he said that Lou used to be the best ” but now I’m the best.” The saving grace for me was that on that very evening, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers (by then my team, after moving to the DFW area a few years earlier) threw his 7th no-hitter, getting top billing over Rickey Henderson on ESPN’s SportsCenter!
On Good Friday 2001, Joanna and I both had the day off of work. After going out for lunch, I had dropped her off at a Honda dealership to pick up her car that had been serviced there. On my way home, I was listening to our local sportstalk radio station, known as “The Ticket.” As they prepared to go to a commercial, one of the hosts said, “After this break, we’ll be back with the great Lou Brock.”
It turned out that Lou was in Dallas, signing autographs at a local Blockbuster on behalf of MasterCard and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. When people signed up for a MasterCard featuring Lou’s picture, MasterCard would donate $10 to the Boys & Girls Clubs.
Lou was going to be there from 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. I went home and quickly went through my old Cardinals memorabilia, picked out three items, and headed for that Blockbuster. But I lived in the suburbs and didn’t know Dallas that well. (And there was no smartphone with GPS, etc., back then!) I finally found that Blockbuster at 5:25.
I walked in, and there he was – Lou Brock, big as life. One person was talking to him, and no line behind him. When that person was through, I got all the time I needed. Lou’s wife, Jackie, was helping him with the MasterCard applications. He signed my three items. I didn’t need another credit card, but I signed up for one anyway, because it gave me more time to chat with him. Then Jackie tore off part of the application, handed it to Lou, and said, “Here, give him another autograph.”
I was in my moment. I mean, this is the athlete I had idolized (still do) since I was 13 years old. I’m sure I totally embarrassed him, telling him how – when I was a teenager – I had pictures of him leading off 1st, sliding into 2nd (and Home), swinging the bat, etc., plastered all over my bedroom wall; telling him how many thrills he had brought me as I listened to Harry Caray and Jack Buck describe his exploits on my transistor radio, or as I watched him lead the Cardinals to victory in those World Series.
Then three teenage boys walked past, and Jackie asked them, “Do you fellas know who Lou Brock is?” They shook their heads, giving me the opening I needed. I told them, “He’s the greatest baseball player who ever lived!”
As we talked, Lou enjoyed thumbing through the 1967 Cardinals yearbook I had brought – and he had autographed (“Lou Brock 1985 HOF”); he said, “Boy, this really takes me back!”
Finally, the time came that Lou said, “Well, I guess it’s time for us to wrap this up.” I thanked him, shook his hand one more time, then leaned in and whispered, “Rickey Henderson couldn’t carry your cleats!” He just laughed.
I remember that as soon as I got to my car, I called Daddy to tell him, so I guess we did have cell phones by that time, just not smartphones. At least, that’s the way I remember it.
This story wouldn’t be complete without adding that Daddy and I met “his guy,” Campy Campaneris, one Saturday morning in 1965. Daddy was on the staff of the Kansas City Baptist Association, which at that time had offices in the Berkshire Baptist Retirement Home, which had previously been the Berkshire Towers Hotel. Quite a few of the Kansas City A’s lived in that hotel during the season. After the Baptists bought it, they apparently allowed the previous residents to keep their apartments.
Daddy had been out of town for a week or so; when he got home, he decided to go to the office on a Saturday morning to pick up his mail, and he took me with him. Just as we got out of the car, we saw Campy Campaneris pull into the parking lot. So Daddy and I went over, introduced ourselves, and spoke with him for a minute or so. It was a VERY brief conversation, because Campy still didn’t speak much English at that point.
In Lou’s later years, he and Jackie had begun a Christian ministry that became their primary focus. In his last years, Lou suffered from diabetes, eventually having one of his legs amputated. I can’t imagine what that must have been like, especially for someone who had made his living with his legs.
Lou passed away on September 6, 2020, at the age of 81, leaving an indelible legacy both as a superb athlete and an even better man. I’m so glad that I got to meet him and Jackie. Both of them were extremely gracious to me.