48 Facts About Lou Brock

Louis Clark Brock was an American professional baseball outfielder.

Lou Brock began his 19-year Major League Baseball career with the 1961 Chicago Cubs but spent most of it as a left fielder for the St Louis Cardinals.

An All-Star for six seasons, Brock was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot in 1985 and was inducted into the St Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014.

Best known for stealing bases, Brock once held the major league records for most bases stolen in a single season and in a career.

Lou Brock led the National League in stolen bases in eight seasons.

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Lou Brock was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, to a family of sharecroppers.

Lou Brock's family moved to Collinston, Louisiana, when he was two years old.

Southern University won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' baseball championship during his junior year, and Lou Brock was selected for the United States baseball team in the 1959 Pan American Games.

When Brock decided to try for a professional baseball career, he traveled to St Louis to try out for the Cardinals, but the scout who had recommended him was in Seattle to sign Ray Washburn.

Lou Brock then decided to try out for the Chicago Cubs, who signed him as an amateur free agent in 1960.

Lou Brock made his major league debut with the Cubs on September 10,1961, at the age of 22.

Lou Brock was not known as a power hitter, though he aspired to be one.

Lou Brock had great speed and base running instincts, but the young right fielder failed to impress the Cubs management, hitting for only a combined.

In 1964 after losing patience with his development, the Cubs gave up on Brock and made him part of a trade with the St Louis Cardinals.

Lou Brock helped the Cardinals storm from behind to capture the National League pennant on the last day of the season.

In 1966, Lou Brock ended Maury Wills' six-year reign as the National League's stolen base champion with 74 steals.

Lou Brock went on to lead the National League in stolen bases eight times within a nine-year span between 1966 and 1974.

Lou Brock began the 1967 season by hitting five home runs in the first four games of the season, becoming the first player to do so.

Lou Brock became the first player to steal 50 bases and hit 20 home runs in the same season.

Cardinals won the National League pennant for a second consecutive year in 1968 as Lou Brock led the league in stolen bases as well as in doubles and triples.

In Game 7, Lou Brock had another crucial miscue when he was picked off base by Lolich, extinguishing a possible Cardinals rally.

Lou Brock won his second NL Player of the Month Award in August 1974, marking one of only four times the award was given to a player who slugged below.

In 1972, Lou Brock improved on Maury Wills' method by, instead of trying to maximize lead off distance, focusing on starting with a little momentum.

On September 10,1974, Lou Brock tied Wills' single-season stolen bases mark of 104 with a first-inning steal of second base, and then captured sole possession of the record with another swipe of second in the seventh inning.

Lou Brock ended the season with a new major league single-season record of 118 stolen bases.

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Lou Brock finished second to Steve Garvey in the balloting for the 1974 National League Most Valuable Player Award.

Lou Brock remained best known for base-stealing and starting Cardinals rallies.

Lou Brock was said to have disliked Wills' method of base-stealing, instead shortening his leads and going hard.

In 1964, Lou Brock acquired a movie camera and filmed opposing pitchers from the dugout to study their windups and pickoff moves to detect weaknesses he could exploit.

Lou Brock fell into a hitting slump early in the 1978 season and lost the left fielder's job.

Lou Brock was reported to have felt slighted that he hadn't received a similar invitation.

Lou Brock originally said that he wouldn't go to the White House even if he was invited.

Lou Brock held the single-season stolen base record with 118 until it was broken by Rickey Henderson with 130 in 1982.

Lou Brock held the major league record for a career stolen bases with 938 until it was broken by Henderson in 1991.

Lou Brock led the National League in stolen bases for a record eight times and had a record 12 consecutive seasons with 50 or more stolen bases.

Lou Brock is still the National League's leader in career stolen bases.

Lou Brock's 14 stolen bases in World Series play are a series record.

Lou Brock was honored with The Sporting News Player of the Year Award in 1974.

In 1978, the National League announced that its annual stolen base leader would receive the Lou Brock Award, making Brock the first active player to have an award named after him.

In October 1979, Lou Brock was named the National League's Comeback Player of the Year.

Lou Brock was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, his first year of eligibility.

Lou Brock was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.

Lou Brock briefly worked as a color analyst for Monday Night Baseball on ABC in 1980, and for Chicago White Sox telecasts the following year.

Lou Brock lent his name to a unique rainhat, shaped like a miniature umbrella, meant to be worn at games during showers in lieu of retreating to the concourse.

Lou Brock's speed was referred to in the song "Check the Rhime" by the pioneering "jazz rap" hip-hop ensemble A Tribe Called Quest.

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Lou Brock is the granduncle of sports journalist and broadcaster Taylor Rooks.

Lou Brock's left leg was amputated below the knee in October 2015, because of an infection related to a diabetic condition.

Lou Brock announced on April 13,2017, that he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow's plasma cells.