By Glen Sparks

Brock for Broglio.

Quit snickering.

Few trades in the game’s history—Delino for Pedro?—have inspired quite as many smiles from one side and groans from the other side as this one still does, more than 50 years later.

On June 15, 1964, the Chicago Cubs sent young outfielder Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Ernie Broglio. The transaction also involved four other players. No one cares about those guys. The trade is known now and forever as simply “Brock for Broglio.”

The Redbirds won the deal, of course. Brock went on to complete a Hall of Fame career. He retired with 3,023 hits and 938 stolen bases. The left-fielder made six All-Star games and batted .391 in three World Series as a Cardinal.

Broglio, a 21-game winner for St. Louis in 1960 and an 18-game winner in 1963, sputtered to a 7-19 won-loss record in two-plus seasons as a Cub. The right-hander retired following the 1966 campaign. He was just 31 years old.

St. Louis knew all about Brock. The team’s scout liked what they saw of him at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., according to the book October 1964 by David Halberstam. Cardinals Manager Johnny Keane asked General Manager Bing Devine to look into a deal for the left-handed hitter.

The Cardinals were struggling. They had just lost three games to the Los Angeles Dodgers and had fallen into seventh place with a 28-29 won-loss mark. Devine made a call to Chicago. The Cubs were also struggling. They needed some starting pitching.

Might Ernie Broglio be available, Chicago G.M. John Holland asked. Broglio lost one of the games to L.A. His won-loss record dropped to 3-5 on the season, although he did sport a decent ERA of 3.50 (110 ERA+).

Holland agreed to trade Brock. The speedster was still something of a puzzle   to the Cubs. He was only hitting .251 that year for Chicago. More to the point, he had just 10 stolen bases.

Redbird players hated the trade, according to Halberstam’s book. Bob Gibson asked how you could let go of a former 20-game winner. First baseman Bill White and shortstop Dick Groat also criticized the deal. Who was this Lou Brock guy, anyway?

Well, the truth is, Brock wasn’t that much of any unknown commodity. He was in his third full season. In 1963, he knocked 11 triples (third in the National League) and stole 24 bases (sixth in the N.L.). Brock, stronger than his slender appearance might suggest, launched a titanic blast into the center-field bleachers at the Polo Grounds in 1962. Few players had ever done that.

Even so, Chicago sportswriter Bob Smith wrote this after the trade was made: “Thank you, thank you, oh, you lovely St. Louis Cardinals.”

But, Keane gave Brock the green light. Run whenever you want, the skipper said. Over the final 103 games of the season, No. 20 swiped 33 bases and batted .348 for a St. Louis team that quickly began climbing in the standings. Behind Brock, White (21. 102. .303), Ken Boyer (24 HR, 119 RBI, .295 avg.) and the pitching of Gibson (19-12, 3.01 ERA), Ray Sadecki (20-11, 3.68) and Curt Simmons (18-9, 3.43), the Cardinals captured the pennant with a 93-69 mark. They beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Brock went on to play 19 seasons in the majors. He led the league in stolen bases eight times and notched a then-major league record 118 thefts in 1974. Brock retired with a .293 lifetime batting average and with 3,023 hits. His 938 steals rank him second on the all-time list. Brock went into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1985.

After leaving baseball with a 77-74 career mark, Broglio moved to San Jose, Calif., near his boyhood home. Broglio turns 81 years old today. The man who may have had the best curveball in baseball at one time, according to none other than Lou Brock, revealed in an article for espn.com a few years ago why St. Louis let him go: He was damaged goods, he said.

He hurt his elbow late in the 1963 season. The Cardinals gave him treatments and some cortisone shots in ’64. His arm hurt so much that he hurled three wild pitches and walked five batters in a game on May 19 …. against the Cubs. Several balls bounced into the grass on their way to the plate.

In November of 1964, Broglio underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his right arm and to repair the ulnar nerve. He was never the same.

Broglio pitched with pain for the Cubs, and he didn’t complain. Brock once said this about the man he was dealt for: “Ernie s top of the charts. He is a good man, a man with integrity.”

Sources:

Ernie Broglio SABR bio

Lou Brock SABR bio

Ernie Broglio stats

Lou Brock stats

October 1964

Bleed Cubbie Blue

“Buyer Beware”