Brock’s Cardinals defeated the Boston Red Sox in the 1967 World Series and won another pennant the next year, but lost to the Detroit Tigers in the Series.

“You know before you steal a base that you’ve got nine guys out there in different uniforms,” he once said. “You’re alone in a sea of enemies. The only way you can hold your own is by arrogance, the ability to stand before the crowd. Every time you get thrown out, you’ve got to believe that somebody owes you four or five steals.”

Brock retired after the 1979 season with a career batting average of .293 to complement his base-stealing superlatives. He hit 149 home runs and scored 1,610 runs. He later pursued business ventures in St. Louis and worked as an instructor in the Cardinals’ organization. The team retired his No. 20, and a statue honoring him stands outside Busch Stadium.

Brock’s survivors include his third wife, Jacqueline, a special-education teacher whom he married in 1996; his son, Lou Jr., and his daughter, Wanda, from his first marriage, to Katie Hay; three stepchildren; and two granddaughters, according to St. Louis Public Radio. His first two marriages ended in divorce.

For all his natural speed, Brock was also a student of baseball and an innovator in pursuing the art of stealing bases, using technology to “synchronize your movement with the pitcher’s movement.” Late in the ’64 season, he obtained a movie camera and began filming pitchers as they took their set position, threw to first base and threw to the plate, hoping to discover tendencies that might give him an edge.

Source: New York Times

Powered by NewsAPI.org