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Why Ernie Broglio Believed The St. Louis Cardinals Cheated The Chicago Cubs By Trading Him For Lou Brock
One of the most infamous swaps in MLB history had a profound impact for one of the players included
The mid-season 1964 trade of pitcher Ernie Broglio (along with Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz) of the St. Louis Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Lou Brock (along with Jack Spring and Paul Toth) is still pointed to as one of the most lopsided in baseball history. With Brock becoming a Hall-of-Famer and the hurler contributing just seven wins to his new team, it seems like it may have been a case of bad talent evaluation, but Broglio actually claimed that the Cardinals knew that they were cheating the Cubs.
The trade went down just three days before Brock’s 25th birthday. At that time, he was an obviously talented but not fully evolved player. However, he may have been the best player in the National League the rest of that season after switching teams (.348 batting average, 12 home runs, 44 RBIs 21 doubles, 9 triples, 81 runs and 33 stolen bases). It was just a sign of things to come.
The left-handed Brock finished in 19 seasons with career totals of a .293 batting average, 3,023 base hits, 1,610 runs, 149 home runs, 900 RBIs. His 938 stolen…
