The St. Louis Cardinals’ 50 greatest players

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#14 Lou Brock OF

As has been mentioned several times by now, Brock is a legend as a Cardinal and always will be. His 888 stolen bases is a record that no Cardinals’ player will come close to for a long long time if ever. However, at times Brock’s ability to handle the stick is at times underrated.

Brock finished his career, slashing .297/.347/.414 with a 112 wRC+. While the wRC+ could be better, the slash is really good for a player who is known primarily for his speed. Brock did manage to finish his career with 434 doubles (3rd all time), but he played in over 2200 games, so with his speed that’s not a hard number to reach.

Brock was a key player among the 1960s Cardinals that won 2 World Series titles, not posting a fWAR below 3.2 during that time. The most impressive stat for me comes in Brock’s 1967 season, a season that saw Brock hit over 20 homers for the only time in his career.

That year Brock posted the second highest wRC+ of his career at 128, during what is regarded as baseball’s second “dead ball” era, stealing 52 bases in that same season. Brock also posted a 124 wRC+ in 1968, the season before MLB lowered the mound to take away the stark advantage that pitchers had during that time.

While Brock’s numbers are inflated by the fact that he spent 15+ seasons with the Cardinals, he cannot be forgotten about, and is one of the best base stealers to ever play the game and is one of the best to ever play for the Cardinals.

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