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My Friend Lou Brock
Maybe ten or fifteen years ago I was giving a presentation on diabetes to a large group of physicians in Atlanta. I had some problems in my office before I left, my flight into ATL was a fiasco, the flight ended up being so late that my driver left so I had to get a cab, and I barely made it to the conference center in time. I trot into the ballroom and find the program organizer to get him my slides, etc. He says, “Hey doc, glad you made it. Incidentally, one of our corporate sponsors has a celebrity endorsement guy here to present as well, so tighten up your lecture, so he has time to speak.” After my stressful day, I did not handle that well.
“What? I just gave you my slides for a 50-minute lecture. You can’t change that now to 30 minutes or something. What do you want me to cut? Couldn’t somebody have told me about this ahead of time? Plus, what doctor cares what some movie star thinks about diabetes? Who is this idiot, anyway?”
The program organizer winced and said, “It’s Lou Brock, and he’s standing right behind you.”
I didn’t turn around at first, hoping that he was messing with me. He gave me a sympathetic shake of his head, to say, no, I’m not kidding.
I turn around, and Lou Brock smiles brightly, sticks out his hand, and says, “Hi! I’m Lou Brock! An honor to meet you, sir.”
I couldn’t find a rock to crawl under, so I said, “Ah, geez. I’m really sorry, Mr. Brock. I was way out of line. That was…”
He interrupted me and said, “Don’t worry about it! No big deal! And good heavens doc, call me Lou. Now, how do you want to do this? Do you want to go first, or should it be me? This is your program. These guys are here to learn. I’m just the bait, to get them to show up. We’ll do this however you want.”
He instantly put me at ease, and we discussed how we wanted to put on the joint program. Then, while they were setting everything up for the conference, they put Mr. Brock and me at a table behind the screen and brought us dinner. So I had a private dinner with Lou Brock. And it was wonderful.
I asked endless questions about his life, and he actually asked about mine, and by the time the presentation was supposed to start, we knew each other well, and I felt like I had known him for years.
So let me tell you a bit about my friend Lou Brock.
He was raised in rural Louisiana. When I mentioned that I grew up on a hog farm, he asked about breeds and farming styles, and clearly knew something about farming hogs. I can’t remember what his parents did for a living.
He didn’t play baseball until his junior year of high school. He went to Southern University on a math scholarship. He tried out for the baseball team after he’d been in college a while.
He and I had a wonderful time talking about our love for math. He was particularly interested in how we use statistics to discern the effect of drugs on a disease from random chance in medical studies. We spent a lot of time talking about curves, standard deviations, p-values, relative risk reduction, absolute risk reduction, and so on. Mr. Brock is diabetic (and later lost a leg to diabetes), and he knew the diabetic literature pretty well for a layman.
And let me tell you. Lou Brock is one smart dude. He’s also an ordained minister (as is his wife). Extremely well-spoken. And a great sense of humor, with joy in his eyes and an infectious laugh.
And the most kind, humble man you’d ever want to meet. At one point he commented on how much the two of us had in common: “Hey, we’re both farm boys from the middle of nowhere. We’re both good at math. We’re both good athletes. And now we end up speaking together at the same conference. Cool!”
I said, “Um, right – we’re both good athletes…”
He pointed out, “Well, we’re both better than 99.9% of the people out walking around on the street, right?”
I responded, “Well, maybe. But in your case, we could add a few more very important nines on the end of that number…”
Brock: “Are those extra nines really that important?”
I said, “I’m not sure. Let me check my bank account…”
Mr. Brock laughed and laughed. We had a wonderful time together.
His speech was great. But I treasure my dinner with him.
What a quality human being. I regret that I didn’t keep up with him afterward. It’s strange how sad I am to learn of his passing, even though I only met him once. I doubt he’d remember me – I hope so, but I’m sure he meets lots of people. But I can’t help but consider him to be a personal friend, as presumptuous as that sounds. I suspect that lots of people he meets probably feel the same way about him. What a great man.
I never saw him play baseball. But I’m a fan. A most devoted fan.
My friend Lou Brock died yesterday at the age of 81. May he rest in peace.
My most sincere condolences to his family, and to his many other friends.
Godspeed, Mr. Brock.
Published in General
Dr. B,
Oh was it fun to watch the game when Lou Brock got on base. The duel between Lou and the pitcher, the catcher, the first baseman, and inevitably the second baseman was a thing of beauty. Once he got going anything could happen.
Regards,
Jim
Great ball player. Saw hime play many times.
And the worst trade in the history of the Chicago Cubs. The worst.
Wonderful post. Watching him play baseball brought me much joy. Learning what a decent human being he is brings me even more.
Wonderful post.
Though I had never heard of Lou Brock before reading this. The only reason I read it was because Dr. Bastiat’s posts are always worth reading, even if they are about some random fellow.
Just more proof that All Lives Matter, amiright?
I saw this quote from Brock:
So when he stole 118 bases in 1974, the pitchers and catchers knew he was looking to steal and still couldn’t stop him. He had base running down to an art form. He was 35 that season so he probably wasn’t the fastest guy out there, but he knew when to go.
Well, let’s see now, what was Ernie Broglio’s record with the Cubs?
1965 – Won 1 – Lost 6
1966 – Won 2 – Lost 6
Yeah, you might be right about that…
I still remember when Rickey Henderson broke Brock’s career record for stolen bases and promptly brayed to the crowd, “Today, I am the greatest of all time”.
No Rickey, with this classless gesture you merely showed that, statistically, you were ahead of Brock. When it came to class, Brock was, far and away, the “greatest of all time”.
God speed in more ways than one
Great tribute, Dr. B. What a life well lived. I got Lou Brock’s autograph during a warm-up session at a game against Cleveland in the 70s.
RIP.
What a wonderful memory and tribute. Thank you.
Also that day Ricky Henderson got the record, I think Nolan Ryan pitched another no hitter
High I.Q. often results in quicker reflexes. High-functioning autistics are a notable exception.
I hope Lou Brock’s family has a chance to read this post.
@drbastiat. What an awesome post! Thanks for sharing your connection with Brock. Brock was one of my father’s all time favorites and he spoke of him often with admiration as a man who played the game the right way and did so with class.
RIP to an all-time great.
The Cardinals in the 1960’s were a fascinating team. St. Louis wasn’t an easy city to play in for black athletes in the 60’s. It took a tough breed of black athlete to endure and thrive. Bob Gibson, Bill White, Curt Flood and Lou Brock were deep, smart, tough minded men who weren’t willing to take the racism they endured lightly.
In our random walks through life’s many events, we have moments that are larger and more wonderful than all the other moments can ever be. Those moments make our lives worth living.
Loved this story. Thank you. :-)
I seem to remember that one year, they had the starting All-Star infield (White, Javier, Groat and Boyer). Quite a team. As for Gibson, well, there aren’t many players who can bring about a change to the actual playing field. When baseball lowered the pitching mound a couple of inches it was attributed to Gibson’s utter dominance (a 1.12 ERA as I recall). The major league grand poobahs were afraid that the lack of offense was going to keep fans away. I still recall Mike Schmidt (Phillies) saying that if he hit a homer off Gibson, he was careful to circle the bases quickly with his head down so that (hopefully) he wouldn’t get a fastball up under his chin during his next at-bat.
Interesting story. Do you happen to remember what year it was that the mound was lowered? (I always thought it should be lowered 2-3 feet further.)
One of many stories about it. Although this story said that Gibson was just the “tip of the spear”, I believe that he was a very sharp tip…
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-baseball-pitching-mound-lowered-20190207-story.html
This is the greatest story and I didn’t know he had died!~ When I saw the title I thought “the Lou Brock???” I think he was the first baseball player I actually remember watching as a kid. Man, he could fly around the bases! Remember playing baseball as a kid and imagining you were a major league hero stealing a base or driving in the winning run? For me that was Lou Brock. Excellent story, I’m glad he was truly the great gentleman in real life that he seemed to be to a little kid. RIP