On his 37th birthday, Lou Brock hit an inside-the-park home run.
Brock hit nine home runs inside the park _ three with the Cubs and six with the Cardinals. He was 22 when he hit the first and 38 when he hit the ninth.
Brock had the power to hit balls over the walls at any big-league ballpark and also the speed to circle the bases on balls hit inside the park.
Out of the park
The first time Brock hit a big-league home run was on April 13, 1962, for the Cubs in their home opener against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Leading off the bottom of the first inning against rookie Ray Washburn, Brock hit a pitch over the bleachers in right-center and onto Sheffield Avenue. The ball carried at least 450 feet, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Two years ago, I batted against Washburn in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) tournament and all I got were three strikeouts and a little bunt single,” Brock told the Post-Dispatch. “When I told the boys at Southern U. last winter that I would have to face Washburn in the majors, they asked me if I was going to jump behind the water cooler and hide when he pitched.” Boxscore
(Brock had six hits in 14 career at-bats in the big leagues versus Washburn _ a .429 batting mark. Brock and Washburn were Cardinals teammates from 1964-69, playing on three National League pennant winners and two World Series championship teams.)
Friendly Forbes Field
Four days after his homer against Washburn, Brock hit his second home run, and his first inside the park, against the Pirates’ Tom Sturdivant at Wrigley Field. Boxscore
Brock “sped around the bases while Donn Clendenon was chasing the ball in the left field corner,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
Sturdivant again was the pitcher when Brock hit his next inside-the-park homer on April 23, 1963, at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. Boxscore
Brock’s drive to center struck the wire screen of a light tower (the screen, or cage, was in play) and bounded back past center fielder Bill Virdon. Brock circled the bases as Willie Stargell retrieved the ball.
A right-hander who played 10 years in the majors and pitched in six World Series games for the Yankees, Sturdivant was no match for Brock. In seven career plate appearances versus Sturdivant, Brock had four hits and two walks _ an on-base percentage of .857.
Three months later, on July 21, 1963, Brock hit his second inside-the-park homer of the season, and the third of his career, against the Pirates’ Don Cardwell at Forbes Field. The drive hit the center field wall. Boxscore
Igniting the offense
In June 1964, Brock was traded to the Cardinals and transformed the lineup with his hitting, speed and intimidating base running.
Brock’s first Cardinals home run was launched onto the pavilion roof in right at the original Busch Stadium in St. Louis against the Giants’ Jack Sanford on June 21, 1964.
Brock’s second Cardinals home run was inside the park _ again at Forbes Field _ versus the Pirates’ Steve Blass in the first game of a July 13 doubleheader.
Batting second in the order, between Curt Flood and Dick Groat, Brock hit a shot that landed in deep right-center, bounced against an iron gate, and caromed away from right fielder Roberto Clemente. Brock scored without a slide ahead of the relay throw from Bill Mazeroski. Boxscore
Brock’s performance in the doubleheader illustrated his multiple skills. In the second game, he powered a home run into the upper deck in right. He totaled seven hits, a walk, two RBI and five runs scored in the doubleheader. Boxscore
For his career, Brock hit .299 with six home runs in 79 games at Forbes Field, which was the Pirates’ home until July 1970.
(Brock wasn’t alone in finding the large outfield at Forbes Field to be good for hitting homers inside the park. The Cardinals’ Terry Moore hit two in one game there in 1939.)
Hit and run
From 1965 to 1975, Brock hit two homers inside the park _ on May 22, 1965, versus the Mets’ Jack Fisher at the original Busch Stadium, and on May 3, 1970, against the Astros’ Tom Griffin at Busch Memorial Stadium.
In 1976, Brock hit two inside-the-park homers.
The first of those came on June 18, his 37th birthday, and it was the second homer hit inside the park by a Cardinals batter that night at Busch Memorial Stadium.
In the fourth inning, the Cardinals’ Hector Cruz hit a pitch from the Padres’ Randy Jones deep to left-center. As Willie Davis leaped for it, he banged into the wall and the ball careened back toward the infield. Cruz circled the bases as Davis chased the ball, and scored just ahead of the relay throw from Enzo Hernandez.
Brock batted in the next inning against Jones and hit a drive to right-center. The ball got past Dave Winfield, hit a seam in the artificial surface, bounced over Davis, who was backing up the play, and rolled to the wall. Brock raced around the bases before Tito Fuentes could make a relay throw to the plate. Boxscore
“All in a day’s work _ a hard day’s work,” Brock said to the Post-Dispatch.
Asked about achieving the feat at 37, Brock replied to the Associated Press, “Age don’t mean nothing. It’s only when you can’t do the job any more that it counts.”
Three months later, on Sept. 8, 1976, Brock hit another homer inside the park at St. Louis. The pitcher was the Expos’ Chuck Taylor, Brock’s former Cardinals teammate.
Brock’s final inside-the-park homer was hit on Sept. 21, 1977, against the Expos’ Hal Dues at Montreal. Boxscore
The career leader in inside-the-park home runs is Jesse Burkett, who played in the majors from 1890 to 1905. He hit 55 inside-the-park homers, including 19 with the Cardinals and eight with the Browns.
RetroSimba 
Great post. I had no idea that in his short stay with the Cubs Lou Brock already had 3 IPHR’s. All teams have been guilty of making terrible trades, ( St. Louis included). But the Cubs were really clueless as to what a priceless gem they had with Lou Brock. And he hit his last one at the age of 38. Wow! Forgive me if I get a little off subject. I noticed that the game in which Cruz and Brock both had an IPHR both teams combined for 11 runs and 18 hits. The game took 1 hour and 59 minutes to play. Last night the Cardinals and Marlins needed 3 hours to score a total of two runs on ten hits.
Thanks, Phillip. Lou Brock was such a multi-faceted talent. One of his many overlooked accomplishments was hitting 4 World Series home runs _ one each in 1964 and 1967, and two in 1968.
Not many walks last night, either.
I just watched Brock forget to slide in probably the most underrated Series ever. And what’s Joe Schultz doing arguing the call so vehemently? A third base coach can’t see that play.
Joe Schultz was just jumping for joy at the thought that, three days later, he would be named manager of the Seattle Pilots and would have a starring role in “Ball Four.” The Pilots formally announced Schultz’s hiring on Oct. 10, immediately after the Cardinals lost Game 7 to the Tigers. “My wife Gladys told me not to leave the Cardinals,” Schultz told the St. Petersburg Times, “but this is something I want to prove to myself.”
For more on the Lou Brock play in Game 5, check out my story: https://retrosimba.com/2018/11/08/bill-freehan-lou-brock-and-a-world-series-controversy/
I had no idea of Brock’s power. Never really saw him play in that he retired in the late 70’s, the beginning of my fandom. There is nothing to me as exciting as the inside the park homer except maybe the triple. I assume the numbers are way down because of stadium sizes or maybe where the Astros play there are a bunch because of that strange mound in centerfield or did they remove that?
Thanks, Steve. Lou Brock had astonishing power. I suppose if he played today he would be expected to hit home runs. When he played, he decided it was more important that he get on base and utilize his speed as a force.
The best example of Brock’s power was the home run he hit for the Cubs vs. Al Jackson of the Mets on June 17, 1962, at the Polo Grounds in New York. According to the Chicago Tribune, Brock was the first big-league player to hit a home run into the bleachers to the right of dead center field at the venerable Polo Grounds. The drive was estimated to carry 470 feet.
Adding to the degree of difficulty, Brock, a left-handed batter, did it against a left-handed pitcher. In its game story, the Tribune described Brock as “the deceivingly powerful rookie.”
According to the Tribune, the only other big-leaguers to hit home runs to center at the Polo Grounds were Babe Ruth and Joe Adcock. They hit their home runs to the left of dead center. When Ruth did it in the 1920s, home plate was closer to the center field wall than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. The Adcock homer for the Milwaukee Braves came on April 27, 1953, vs. Jim Hearn of the New York Giants.
According to the New York Daily News, the only player other than Brock to hit a homer to the right of dead center at the Polo Grounds was Luke Easter when he was in the Negro National League.