The Red Sox, like everyone else in baseball in 1967, knew the Cardinals’ catalyst that season was Lou Brock. Keeping the St. Louis speedster off the basepaths, wrote columnist Dick Young of The Sporting News, “was like trying to keep Zsa Zsa Gabor off the Johnny Carson show.”
Brock set the tone for the 1967 World Series by hitting four singles, stealing two bases and scoring both St. Louis runs in the Cardinals’ 2-1 Game 1 victory at Boston.
Forty-five years later, Pablo Sandoval of the Giants became the first player since Brock to go 4-for-4 in Game 1 of a World Series, according to ESPN. Sandoval hit three home runs and a single in the Giants’ 8-3 victory over the Tigers in the opener of the 2012 World Series. Boxscore
Backing the pitching of Cardinals ace Bob Gibson, Brock singled four times against Boston starter Jose Santiago.
In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson wrote that Brock “fed on the pressure of the World Series because it was his nature to take advantage of the moment and do whatever was necessary to reach the top.”
In the third inning, Brock singled to center, advanced to third on Curt Flood’s double and scored on a Roger Maris groundout to first.
Brock manufactured the winning run in the seventh. He singled to right, swiped second, moved to third on Flood’s groundout to first and scored on a groundout to second by Maris.
The four hits tied a World Series single-game record. Brock had a chance to break the mark against John Wyatt in the ninth but drew a walk. Boxscore
“Lou Brock just beat us,” Red Sox manager Dick Williams said to the Associated Press after the game.
Said Cardinals shortstop Dal Maxvill to The Sporting News: “When Lou starts it, this club rolls. If there’s anybody I’d hate to start the season without, it’d be him.”
In the seven-game Series, won by the Cardinals, Brock batted .414 (12-for-29) with two walks and a Series-record seven steals.
Previously: Dick Williams couldn’t intimidate 1967 Cardinals
[…] Retro Simba – Brock set the tone for the 1967 World Series by hitting four singles, stealing two bases and scoring both St. Louis runs in the Cardinals’ 2-1 Game 1 victory at Boston. The four hits tied a World Series single-game record. Brock had a chance to break the mark against John Wyatt in the ninth but drew a walk. […]