Before Ernie Broglio became a principal figure in the Lou Brock trade, he had much success, including his greatest game, against the Cubs.
Broglio died July 16, 2019, at 83. He was a premium starting pitcher when the Cubs acquired him, reliever Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens from the Cardinals for Brock and pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth on June 15, 1964.
Based on his results for the Cardinals, the Cubs thought Broglio would be a consistent winner.
Broglio earned 21 wins for the Cardinals in 1960 and 18 in 1963.
The right-hander was 11-4, with four shutouts, as a Cardinal against the Cubs.
The best of those performances came on July 15, 1960, when Broglio pitched a one-hitter and struck out 14 in a 6-0 Cardinals victory over the Cubs at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Right stuff
Broglio entered the Friday night game with a 9-4 record and a streak of four consecutive wins.
With one out in the second inning, the Cubs’ Ed Bouchee, a left-handed batter, lined a single against the screen in right field. Broglio retired the next 13 batters in a row before Richie Ashburn drew a walk with two outs in the sixth.
In the seventh, Ernie Banks walked with one out before Broglio retired the last eight batters in a row.
Every Cubs starter except Bouchee struck out. None of the three Cubs baserunners advanced to second. Boxscore
“This is the best I’ve ever seen Broglio pitch,” Cardinals manager Solly Hemus said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Broglio “kept the Cubs off balance with changing speeds and breaking stuff,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
Asked by the Post-Dispatch which pitch worked best, Broglio said, “My curve. It was breaking off fine.”
Cardinals catcher Carl Sawatski told the Associated Press, “His curveball was working almost perfectly and his fastball was as good as ever.”
Broglio credited Sawatski with perfect pitch selection. “I didn’t shake him off once,” Broglio said.
Sawatski also contributed a solo home run onto the right-field pavilion roof against starter Don Cardwell, who pitched a no-hitter for the Cubs against the Cardinals two months earlier on May 15, 1960.
Big deal
Two months after his gem against the Cubs, Broglio shut them out again, pitching a three-hitter in a 4-0 Cardinals triumph on Sept. 3, 1960, at St. Louis. He struck out seven and walked two. Boxscore
Broglio was 3-0 with a 1.15 ERA versus the Cubs in 1960.
When the Cubs acquired him from the Cardinals, Broglio, 28, was regarded a more prominent player than Brock. In six seasons (1959-64) with the Cardinals, Broglio was 70-55, including 18 shutouts. Brock hit .257 in four seasons (1961-64) with the Cubs.
In a 2014 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Broglio recalled, “I was a little bit upset because I wanted to finish my career with the Cardinals.”
Asked to recall his reaction to the trade, Bill White, the first baseman for the 1964 Cardinals, told me in a 2011 interview, “We all thought it was nuts. Lou was a raw talent. At that point, he didn’t really understand baseball. He might try to steal while 10 runs up or 10 runs down.”
According to the Tribune, Brock “had fallen into some disfavor” with Cubs manager Bob Kennedy, “a stickler for sound application of baseball’s fundamentals.”
“Kennedy was irritated at times by Brock’s erratic outfield play and occasionally by his unsound baserunning,” the Tribune reported.
Kennedy said the acquisition of Broglio “gives us as good a pitching staff as there is in the league.” Cubs third baseman Ron Santo added, “With our pitching staff now, we can win the pennant.”
Broglio, who had a damaged right elbow, was 4-7 with a 4.04 ERA for the 1964 Cubs, who finished eighth at 76-86. In a 2016 interview with his hometown San Jose Mercury News, Broglio said, “They (Cardinals) got rid of used merchandise. The Cubs didn’t know. Nowadays, that trade never would have happened.”
Brock hit .348 with 33 stolen bases and 81 runs scored, sparking the 1964 Cardinals to the National League pennant and a World Series championship.
Broglio told the Mercury News the Cardinals players went to Stan Musial’s restaurant in St. Louis after clinching the World Series title and called him at his home in San Jose to thank him for his contributions and to have him feel a part of the celebration.
Broglio was 7-19 with a 5.40 ERA in three seasons (1964-66) with the Cubs. Brock went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Cardinals.
According to the San Jose newspaper, Brock sent Broglio an autographed photo with the inscription, “History and time have tied us together. You are and were a hellava player.”
That deal was universally condemned on the Cardinal side at the time it was made. My dad told me that a buddy of his thought the Cardinals were “nuts”, just like Bill White said, and questioned why they would give up a solid starting pitcher for a “spray hitting outfielder”.
Had the scenario come up 20 years later, Broglio likely would have undergone Tommy John surgery, and might have revived his career.
Thanks for the good comments.
In 1960 Ernie was the best pitcher in baseball. If there was any justice he would be in the Cardinals Hall of Fame, but that seems to be reserved more for players on winning teams. As a kid, I considered myself Ernie’s fan, and that ain’t changed. If only they could have fixed his elbow . . . . I would have loved to see him for 5 or 10 more years with the Cardinals.
Thanks. I enjoyed your viewpoint.
I was too young at the time to understand the significance of this trade. Can anyone please tell me if there were any suspicions or rumors as to why the Cardinals wanted to make this trade? I’ve always thought it also somewhat incredible that upon coming to St. Louis, Brock just took off like a rocket. I came across an article where he describes his time with the Cubs like being in a prison yard, where the guards are just waiting for you to make a mistake. He also complained about there use of a rotating coaching system. Maybe there is something to be said about a change of atmosphere being a good thing. Either way, Ernie sums it up best when he says that today there is no way that trade would have been made.
The David Halberstam book “October 1964” does a good job of providing insight. In essence, the Cardinals, who were supposed to contend, were two games under .500 as the June 15 trade deadline approached, and general manager Bing Devine felt his job was on the line and he needed to act. He and manager Johnny Keane agreed what the club needed was a quality hitter with speed who could play the outfield. Keane was the one who was high on Brock.
Excerpts from the Halberstam book:
_ “Devine would not hesitate to trade a starting pitcher for an outfielder. He was sure that a good farm system in working order would always keep enough strong-armed young men in the pipeline to deliver first-rate pitchers.”
_ “If anything, Keane believed even more passionately in the idea of speed than Bing Devine. The player he had wanted for more than a year was a seemingly, undistinguished black outfielder for the Chicago Cubs named Lou Brock.”
_ Keane and Cardinals player personnel director Eddie Stanky recommended Brock to Devine. “Brock was a player, both Keane and Stanky felt, who might blossom on the Cardinals, a far more aggressive team on the base paths than the Cubs.”
_ “Keane had never been a very big fan of Broglio’s. Keane felt Broglio’s attitude was not intense enough.”
_ Devine called Cubs general manager John Holland, who said the Cubs needed a starting pitcher. After that talk, Devine said to Keane, “We can get Brock for Broglio if you want.” Keane replied, “Then what are we waiting for?”