RIP Lou Brock

So close, Brock and Seaver.

I was rooting for him to break the SB record in '74, and, 13 at the time, I was upset that Garvey beat him for MVP. (Looked at today, both of them were well behind Schmidt and Morgan and Bench in WAR; Jimmy Wynn, too.) Still always mentioned near the top of worst-trades-ever lists.

(Or, from the Cardinals' perspective, best-trades-ever lists.)

some nice nuggets in this Jaffe piece

Late in the 1964 season, Brock bought an 8-mm movie camera, which he used to record pitchers and study their pickoff moves. When the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale asked what he was doing, Brock told him he was making home movies. “I don’t want to be in your goddamn movies, Brock,” said Drysdale, who threw at Brock the next time the two faced off, but never hit him in 106 career encounters....

Brock couldn’t match his stellar 1964 performance in either of the next two seasons. After bunting on Sandy Koufax and then stealing two bases and scoring in the first inning of a May 26, 1965 game, Koufax drilled him in the back, fracturing his shoulder blade....

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/remembering-lou-brock-1939-2000-base-thief-extraordinaire/