St. Louis Cardinals Lou Brock

lou brock part of cardinals coaching staff during team s 2005 spring training.

in 1966, brock ended maury wills six-year reign national league s stolen base champion 74 steals. in david halberstam s book, october 1964, author states manager johnny keane asked brock forgo hitting home runs in favor of stealing bases. brock went on lead national league in stolen bases 8 times within nine-year span between 1966 , 1974 (former teammate bobby tolan led league in steals in 1970). brock began 1967 season hitting 5 home runs in first 4 games of season, becoming first player (barry bonds tie record in 2002). hitting .328 average mid-june earn role starting left fielder national league in 1967 all-star game. after suffering through mid-season slump, recovered finish season career-high 206 hits , .299 batting average while leading league in stolen bases , runs scored cardinals won national league pennant ten , half games. brock became first player steal 50 bases , hit 20 home runs in same season. in 1967 world series, brock hit .414 average, scored 8 runs , set world series record 7 stolen bases cardinals defeated boston red sox in 7 games.

the cardinals won national league pennant second consecutive year in 1968 brock once again led league in stolen bases in doubles , triples. in 1968 world series against detroit tigers, brock had 3 stolen bases in game 3 , contributed double, triple, home run , 4 runs batted in during game 4 cardinals build three-game 1 advantage on tigers. cardinals appeared on verge of winning second consecutive world series, going fifth inning of game 5 3–2 lead. although brock s base running abilities had proven factor in previous 4 games, carelessness may have cost cardinals run. after brock had hit double, tried score standing on julián javier s single left, willie horton threw him out strong throw home plate. detroit rallied 3 runs in seventh inning mickey lolich shut out cardinals final 8 innings win game tigers. in game 7, brock had crucial miscue when picked off base lolich, extinguishing possible cardinals rally. tigers rallied being down 3 games 1 behind excellent pitching of mickey lolich win series. brock once again stole 7 bases , leading hitter in series, posting .464 batting average 6 runs , 5 runs batted in.

lou brock stealing @ busch stadium vs atlanta braves, 1975.

at end of 1960s, brock s career entering prime. beginning in 1969, produced 6 consecutive seasons 190 hits or better. named nl player of month first of 3 times in career in may 1971 .405 batting average , 8 stolen bases. in august 1973, broke record set ty cobb when stole 50th base of season, marking ninth time had stolen 50 or more bases in season. brock won second nl player of month award in august 1974, 29 stolen bases in 30 games, despite batting .326; also, first batter named player of month without hitting home run in month of award.

on september 10, 1974, brock stole 2 bases, tying maury wills mark of 104 first inning steal of second base , capturing sole possession of single season record swipe of second in seventh inning. ended season new major league single-season record of 118 stolen bases. brock finished second steve garvey in balloting 1974 national league valuable player award.

in game against san diego padres on august 29, 1977 @ jack murphy stadium in san diego, brock became all-time major league stolen base leader when broke ty cobb s career record of 892 stolen bases. record had been 1 of durable in baseball history , babe ruth s record of 714 career home runs, had been considered unbreakable observers.

brock remained best known base-stealing , starting cardinals rallies. said have disdained maury wills method of base-stealing, instead shortening leads , going hard. student of game films. used 8 mm movie camera dugout film opposing pitchers , study windups , pickoff moves detect weaknesses exploit.

brock fell hitting slump in 1978 season , lost left fielder s job. however, fought during spring training in 1979 .345 batting average regain starting job. brock named player of month month of may 1979, during produced .433 batting average.

on august 13, 1979, brock became fourteenth player in major league baseball history reach 3,000 hits plateau against team traded him, chicago cubs. approximately 1 month later, carl yastrzemski reached same plateau , promptly invited white house massachusetts congressman tip o neill. brock reported have felt slighted hadn t received similar invitation. brock stated wouldn t go white house if invited. however, after consideration decided forgiveness best course , accepted belated invitation meet president. brock retired @ end of season, having posted .304 batting average in last season @ age of 40. @ end of season, named national league comeback player of year—the first player named in final major league season.