Lou Brock (1985)


Date of Birth: 6/18/1939
Date of Death: 9/6/2020
Birthplace: El Dorado, Arkansas
College: Southern University and A&M College

After playing baseball in college, Lou Brock signed with the Chicago Cubs in 1960. He spent most of the 1961 season in the minor leagues, playing in only four games with the Cubs that season. The following year, his first full season in the major leagues, Brock batted .263 with 114 hits, 24 doubles, and 16 stolen bases in 123 games.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cubs traded Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1964 season. He played in 52 games with the Cubs and 103 games with the Cardinals that year. The following season, he started showing his speed with 63 stolen bases in 155 games. A year later, in 1966, Brock led the National League in stolen bases with 74. He would lead the league in stolen bases seven more times in his career (1967-1969, 1971-1974). Brock had a career high of 118 stolen bases in 1974.

Brock had one of his best seasons in 1967. That year, he had career highs in hits (206), home runs (21), and RBIs (76). He finished the season with 32 doubles, 12 triples, 52 stolen bases, and a .299 batting average in 159 games. He also played well in the postseason in 1967. He won the Babe Ruth award for batting .414 with 12 hits, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 7 stolen bases, and 3 RBIs in 29 at-bats in 7 games. He struck out once and walked 3 times.

Brock led the National League in doubles with 46 and in triples with 14 in 1968. He had 184 hits, 62 stolen bases, 51 RBIs, 124 strikeouts to 46 walks, and a .279 batting average in 159 games. The following year, his batting average went up to .298. In 1969, he had 195 hits, 33 doubles, 53 stolen bases, and 47 RBIs in 157 games.

Brock's batting average went up to .304 in 1970 and .313 in 1971. He had 202 hits, 29 doubles, 51 stolen bases, and 57 RBIs in 1970. The next year, he had even better numbers with 200 hits, 37 doubles, 64 stolen bases, and 61 RBIs. In 1971, he struck out 107 times and he walked a career high 76 times.

Brock again had a batting average over .300 in 1972. He finished the season with 193 hits, 26 doubles, 63 stolen bases, and a .311 batting average in 153 games. In 1973, he played in a career high 160 games and he batted .297 with 193 hits. He got on base with walks 71 times and he stole 70 bases that year.

In 1974, Brock won the Sporting News Player of the Year award and the Baseball Digest Player of the Year award. He had 194 hits, 25 doubles, a career high 118 stolen bases, 48 RBIs, 88 strikeouts to 61 walks, and a .306 batting average in 153 games.

Brock continued to excel in the next two seasons, batting .309 in 1975 and .301 in 1976. He had 56 stolen bases each season. He received the Roberto Clemente award in 1975. Two years later, he earned the Lou Gehrig Memorial award. In 1977, his batting average dropped to .272 and he had only 35 stolen bases. He played in just 98 games in 1978, and he batted .221 with 66 hits.

In 1979, his last season in the major leagues, Brock was named the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year. He also won the Hutch award. That season he batted .304 with 123 hits and 21 stolen bases in 120 games.

Awards and MLB Records

  • Baseball Digest Player of the Year
  • Sporting News Player of the Year
  • Hutch award
  • Babe Ruth award
  • Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year
  • Roberto Clemente award
  • Lou Gehrig award
  • Led the NL in stolen bases (8 times)

Career Statistics

Statistics for Brock in 19 seasons (1961-1979) in the major leagues include:

  • 4 seasons with 100 or more hits, with a high of 206 in 1967
  • 6 seasons with 30 or more doubles, with a high of 46 in 1968
  • 6 seasons with 10 or more triples, with a high of 14 in 1968
  • 12 seasons with over 50 stolen bases, with a high of 118 in 1974
  • 7 seasons with a batting average over .300, with a high of .315 in 1964

Career batting statistics for Brock include:

  • 2,616 games played
  • 486 doubles
  • 141 triples
  • 938 stolen bases
  • 900 RBIs
  • 1,730 strikeouts to 761 walks
  • .293 batting average
  • .343 on-base percentage
  • .753 OPS

Career fielding statistics for Brock as a left fielder include:

  • 2,161 games played
  • 3,710 putouts
  • 168 errors
  • .958 fielding percentage

Postseason statistics for Brock include:

  • 3 postseasons
  • 21 games played
  • 87 at-bats
  • 34 hits
  • 7 doubles
  • 2 triples
  • 4 home runs
  • 14 stolen bases
  • 13 RBIs
  • 10 strikeouts to 5 walks
  • .391 batting average

Post Playing Career

After leaving major league baseball as a player, Brock worked as a special instructor and coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Brock was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1985 on the first ballot with 79.7% of the vote.

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Lou Brock
ESPN - Lou Brock
Baseball Reference - Lou Brock

Back to Top