Former major league pitcher Ernie Broglio passed away from cancer on July 16th at the age of 83.
Broglio was best known for being on the wrong end of one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history when he was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs in June 1964 for a young outfielder named Lou Brock. Although it was actually a six player deal, Broglio was at its center.
At the time, Broglio had been a mainstay of the Cardinals starting rotation winning 21 games in 1960 and finishing third in NL Cy Young balloting that season. In 1963, Broglio was coming off an 18 win season. The Cubs thought they were getting an ace starting pitcher. What they got was a pitcher with an injured arm who only won 7 games with them before finishing his career in 1966 at the age of 30. It was later learned that Broglio had torn his UCL and Tommy John surgery was another decade away.
In three and a half seasons, Brock was a .250 hitter. While he could run, he was often caught stealing bases and led the NL in for being caught stealing 18 times in 1963. When Brock arrived in St. Louis, the team was 28-31 and 7 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL standings. No sooner than Brock put on a Cardinals uniform he set the league afire hitting .348 and stole 33 bases en route the Cardinals' first World Series title in 18 years. Brock would earn another World Series ring three years later along with a World Series MVP. A decade later, he would eclipse Ty Cobb for the all-time stolen bases crown and finished with 938 for his career (a record later shattered by Rickey Henderson). Brock would be inducted into Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility in 1985.
Although Broglio's name became synonymous with poor decision making and the ongoing misfortune of the Cubs, Broglio made his peace with his notoriety. Broglio asked, “Who else can say he was traded for a Hall of Famer?” R.I.P.
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