The phrase "Brock for Broglio" is sometimes used in the sport of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

to signify a trade that in hindsight, turns out to be an extremely lopsided transaction. The names in the phrase refer to

Lou Brock Louis Clark Brock (June 18, 1939September 6, 2020) was an American professional baseball outfielder. He began his 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the 1961 Chicago Cubs but spent most of it as a left fielder for the St. Louis Ca ...

and

Ernie Broglio Ernest Gilbert Broglio (; August 27, 1935 – July 16, 2019) was a professional baseball pitcher. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball from 1959 to 1966. After attending high school and junior college i ...

respectively, the centerpieces of a June 15, , six-player deal: Brock,

Jack Spring Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

and

Paul Toth Paul Louis Toth (June 30, 1935 – March 20, 1999) was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, he appeared in Major League Baseball from 1962 to 1964 for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. He was born in McRober ...

were traded from the Chicago Cubs to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

in exchange for Broglio,

Bobby Shantz Robert Clayton Shantz (born September 26, 1925) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from through , and won the 1952 American League Most Valuable Player Award as a ...

, and

Doug Clemens Douglas Horace Clemens (born June 9, 1939), is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from – for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. During Clemens’ playin ...

. It was thought initially the Cubs had done better in the deal, as Broglio was coming off some impressive seasons while pitching for the Cardinals, while Brock had been considered a disappointment for the Cubs. Almost immediately, however, the trade was re-judged by sportswriters. Brock batted .348 for the Cardinals and led them to winning the

1964 World Series The 1964 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1964 season. The 61st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Amer ...

. Brock also helped the Cardinals to another World Series title in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, a pennant in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

, and played successfully for St. Louis through , amassing 3,023 hits and 938 stolen bases (at the time becoming baseball's all-time leader in stolen bases) en route to his Hall of Fame election in . Meanwhile, Broglio went only 4-7 with a 4.04

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

for the Cubs, and by 1966 was out of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. Broglio did not tell anyone at the time, but he had an injured elbow since the second half of the 1963 season, and in November 1964, had his ulnar nerve reset. This is sometimes referred to as the most lopsided trade in baseball history. The Emil Verban Society, an association of Cubs fans in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area, which includes national political leaders and journalists, occasionally recognizes bad decision-making with the "Brock-for-Broglio Judgment Award"—presented, for example, to

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

for his

invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...

in 1990.

References

{{Chicago Cubs Baseball terminology Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals 1964 Major League Baseball season Sports trades

See also

References