Two years ago,
Lou Brock lost part of his left leg due to diabetes. Now, he’s been diagnosed with bone
cancer. This is one of those times when
you have to conclude life sucks.
Brock is to the
Cubs what Babe Ruth was to the Red Sox, a supremely talented player who got
away. With the Cubs, he was a young
outfielder who showed flashes of talent over the course of 2-1/2 seasons on the
North Side. Traded to St. Louis for
nobody in particular (alright, Ernie Broglio, Bobby Shantz and Doug Clemens)
just days before his 25th birthday, Brock blossomed into a
superstar. As a White Sox fan, I shudder
to think of Brock in the same lineup with Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Billy
Williams. Throw in Fergie Jenkines, and
you have a team with five future HOFers who should’ve called Wrigley Field home
throughout the 1960s and ’70s.
Brock hit .391
over the course of three World Series and scored over 1600 runs in his career
while amassing 3023 hits and 938 stolen bases.
He also popularized a version of the umbrella hat, called the
“Brockabrella,” which still brings a smile to my face. Brock even spent a season doing color on White
Sox games with Harry Caray. Talk about a
mispairing. Lou Brock twenty years gone
would know more baseball than Harry Caray in his prime.
Long story
short, bad things shouldn’t happen to good athletes and decent people.
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