Lou Brock, PSA 7, 1962 Topps Rookie Card, NL All-Star, MLB Hall of Fame

Description: He began his 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) 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. He led the National League (NL) in stolen bases in eight seasons. A member of the 3,000-hit club, he led the NL in doubles and triples in 1968, and in singles in 1972. In 1974, Brock finished second to Steve Garvey in the balloting for the 1974 National League Most Valuable Player Award. After retiring as a player, during the 1980s and 1990s, Brock was a spring training baserunning instructor with various MLB clubs, including the 1982 Cardinals, 1987 Minnesota Twins, 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers and 1993 Montreal Expos. The first three of those four teams won the World Series. In his rookie season of 1962, Brock became one of four players to hit a home run into the center-field bleachers at the old Polo Grounds in New York City since its 1923 reconstruction. The others were Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Joe Adcock. After Brock was traded to the Cardinals, his career turned around significantly. He moved to left field and batted .348 and stole 33 bases for the remainder of the 1964 season. At the time of the trade, the Cardinals were 28–31, in eighth place in the National League, trailing even the Cubs, who were 27–27 and in sixth place. Brock helped the Cardinals storm from behind to capture the National League pennant on the last day of the season. Four months to the day after Brock's trade, the Cardinals won the 1964 World Series in seven games over the favored New York Yankees. To this day, the trade of Brock for Broglio is considered one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history. In 1966, Brock ended Maury Wills' six-year reign as the National League's stolen base champion with 74 steals. Brock went on to lead the National League in stolen bases eight times within a nine-year span between 1966 and 1974 (former teammate Bobby Tolan led the league in steals in 1970). 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 (Barry Bonds tied this record in 2002). Brock became the first player to steal 50 bases and hit 20 home runs in the same season. In the 1967 World Series, Brock hit for a .414 average, scored 8 runs, and set a World Series record with seven stolen bases as the Cardinals defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven games. The Cardinals won the National League pennant for a second consecutive year in 1968 as Brock once again led the league in stolen bases as well as in doubles and triples. In the 1968 World Series against the Detroit Tigers, Brock had three stolen bases in Game 3 and contributed a double, triple, home run, and four runs batted in during Game 4 to help the Cardinals build a three-games to one advantage over the Tigers. Brock once again stole seven bases and was the leading hitter in the series, posting a .464 batting average with 6 runs and 5 runs batted in. In August 1973, he broke a record set by Ty Cobb when he stole his 50th base of the season, marking the ninth time he had stolen 50 or more bases in a season. In 1974, he ended the season with a new major league single-season record of 118 stolen bases. On August 13, 1979, in a game against the team that traded him, the Chicago Cubs, Brock became the fourteenth Major League Baseball player to garner 3,000 hits. Brock retired at the end of the season, having posted a .304 batting average in his last season at the age of 40. At the end of the season, he was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year — the first player to be so named in his final Major League season. Brock held the single-season stolen base record with 118 until it was broken by Rickey Henderson with 130 in 1982. He also held the major league record for a career stolen bases with 938 until it was also broken by Henderson in 1991. He led the National League in stolen bases for a record eight times and also had a record 12 consecutive seasons with 50 or more stolen bases. Brock is still the National League's leader in career stolen bases. Brock's .391 World Series batting average is the highest for anyone who played over 20 series games. His 14 stolen bases in World Series play are also a series record. Brock's 13 hits in the 1968 World Series tied a single-series record previously made by Bobby Richardson in 1964 against his Cardinals' team, and was in turn later tied in 1986 by Marty Barrett. In January 1968 he was named the recipient of the Babe Ruth Award as the outstanding player in the 1967 World Series. Brock was honored with The Sporting News Player of the Year Award in 1974. In the wake of his record-setting 118 stolen bases during the 1974 season, Brock was named the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award in March 1975, for best exemplifying the game of baseball both on and off the field. In 1977 he was awarded the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award as the player who best exemplified Lou Gehrig's ability and character. 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, Brock was named the National League's Comeback Player of the Year. In 1995 he was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was ranked Number 58 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Price: 1150 USD

Location: Alpharetta, Georgia

End Time: 2024-08-14T01:39:44.000Z

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