Lou Brock remembered as 'a special person'

ST. LOUIS -- To understand the impact that Lou Brock made on Cardinals fans around the world, ask Tracy Brokaw to tell you about the time she first turned on a baseball game and saw Brock steal a base.

“As soon as my dad came home, I started asking him about baseball, and I’ve been a fan ever since,” Brokaw said Saturday.

Ask John Wilde to show you his Lou Brock collection, filled with jerseys, baseballs, bats and signed pictures, including -- of course -- one of Brock in a Brockabella.

“Here are some pictures of what I’ve got,” Wilde said. “There’s a Minor League jersey of his. And a photo of him in the clubhouse after his 3,000th hit. The Lou Brock glove I had him sign once. When you met him, he’s got a smile on his face all the time. He’s helped this city. Mentor, family, he’s just a special person.”

Ask anyone standing on the corner of Clark Avenue and Eighth Street on Saturday, watching the Cardinals and the Brock family lay a wreath next to Brock’s statue outside of Busch Stadium, and they’ll tell you a story about Sweet Lou. They’ll tell you about when they met him or what he meant to their family or what it was like to watch him play.

“He is, to me, the epitome of baseball,” Brokaw said. “He sparked my love of the game, but then as you kept watching him, it’s just what everybody has been saying all day. What a wonderful human being he is. That big loving smile, what a gracious person he is.”

“Lou Brock is my hero,” said Wilde, who sported a Brock jersey and a Cardinals hat that had “Sweet Lou” embroidered on the back of it.

Brock, who died last Sunday at the age of 81, was celebrated Saturday during a memorial service and two wreath-laying events, one at his statue at Lindenwood University and one at his statue outside of Busch Stadium.

"On behalf of the Brock family, we want to extend our appreciation for all the prayers you've sent our way," Brock's daughter, Wanda, said during the service. "And for all the love and adoration you have for our father that you've shown for so many wonderful years."

Held at Greater Grace Church in Ferguson, Mo., as well as being streamed live, the service began with a video tribute from people around baseball, including Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, Cardinals coach Willie McGee and manager Mike Shildt, current Cardinals players Matt Carpenter and Adam Wainwright and former Cardinal Albert Pujols.

A second video showed highlights of Brock’s career and included snippets of his National Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech in 1985. Then, the tributes began, and immediately, one of Brock’s teammates brought a laugh to the room.

“They’re talking about his holiness and his humbleness, and he was,” former infielder/outfielder Mike Shannon said. “But not on the field. He put the fear of God in the opposition. He’d come up to bat and tell the catcher, ‘You know I’m going to run on you.’ And he wasn’t even on base yet.”

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Al Hrabosky shared how Brock became his mentor. Ozzie Smith spoke of Brock’s leadership and shared a message from Hall of Famer Bob Gibson.

“Losing Lou is like losing a member of my family,” Smith read from Gibson. “For 11 years, I couldn’t wait for the announcer to say, ‘Play ball.’ I would keep my eye on Lou because he would always make a great catch -- I think. In 1964, while we were playing in Milwaukee, a fly ball was hit to Lou. He took off toward center field from left field. And suddenly, he turned around and took off toward the left-field line. He jumped and caught the ball just before it went over the fence. And Bill White said, ‘That was either the best or the worst catch I ever saw.’ We had fun. And while I was in St. Louis, we won three World Series, and without Lou, maybe none. I’m going to miss him.”

Negro Leagues Museum president Bob Kendrick shared stories of Brock and longtime Cubs scout Buck O’Neil, who signed Brock to the Cubs in 1960. KMOX director Tom Ackerman described how much Brock loved the fans and how Brock was a fixture in the community.

“In many of our charity golf tournaments together, the weather would be brutally hot,” Ackerman said. “Lou would insist on taking pictures with each participant. He would always welcome the next person with that smile. He’d look them in the eyes. He’d be present. And he would make them feel like the most important person in the world.

“Lou and [his wife] Jackie would always be the last to leave a charity event. They would make sure that everyone had their time. He glowed in their love. And that’s how I’d like to think of Lou right now -- that he’s smiling and glowing with all these beautiful tributes to his life. Lou is finally free of pain, but he is forever with us to heal ours.”

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Cardinals fans loved Brock, and they meant just as much to him. He grew up in Cardinals territory, a son in a sharecropping family in Louisiana, and if he turned the dial just right, he could find the KMOX signal blasting the voices of Harry Caray and Jack Buck calling Cardinals games. He dreamed of one day being on a Major League field.

For 19 years, Brock turned his dream into a reality. And for many years after his playing days were over, he remained part of Cardinals Nation. Brock’s legacy, both on and off the field, is one to rejoice in. That was clear in the tributes, the messages and the memories shared Saturday at his memorial service and among fans at the statues.

He let fans come along for the ride.

“To all Cardinals Nation,” Jackie Brock shouted Saturday outside of Busch Stadium, “Lou says he loves you, and he’ll see you in glory.”