The Spirit of St. Louis

At 40, Lou Brock is inspiring the young Cardinals

The faithful in Busch Stadium were chanting, "Lou! Lou! Lou!" as the slender black man stepped to the plate for the St. Louis Cardinals last week. With a flick of the wrists, he smacked a grounder to deep short that San Diego's Ozzie Smith fielded flawlessly. Wasting not a step, he fired the ball to first base.

Too late. Louis Clark Brock turns 40 this week, an age when most major leaguers are sauntering to the mailbox in search of invitations to oldtimers' games, but he managed to beat out another grounder. It was the 2,947th hit in a major league career that stretches back to 1961. If he stays healthy, Brock will surely get his 3,000th hit this season. That accomplishment would guarantee him a place in baseball's Hall of Fame --if he had not already earned his spot another way: by stealing 921 bases, breaking Ty Cobb's career record by 29.

Brock may have slowed down to a respectable 3.9 sec. from home to first --compared with the blur of 3.1 sec. in his early days--but he is still beating out so many hits that last week he was batting .368 and leading the league. Brock's explosive start is a key reason for the early-season sprint of the Cardinals, who last week were battling the equally surprising Montreal Expos for the lead of the National League East.

With the notable exception of Brock, the Cards are largely a young and inexperienced team, and Manager Ken Boyer worries about what will happen when the pennant race tightens in September. Boyer is counting on Brock's steadying hand. "He can motivate a team," says the manager. "He thrives on pressure." Brock frankly declares: "Someone has to light the spark. I've been it. I possess the unique ability to do it."

Brock is not exaggerating. Over the years, he has been one of the best money players in the game. In the 1968 World Series, though his team lost to the Detroit Tigers, Brock hit an awesome .464. His lifetime series average is .391, highest for anyone who has played 20 or more games. A year ago, Brock had problems with his swing, hit only .221 and rode the bench. This season his swing is back in the groove, and Brock is playing regularly. "I'm very visible this year," he says, "and the team responds to it."

That it does. "He's the elder statesman," says All-Star Catcher Ted Simmons, 29, who is hitting .316 and has 16 home runs. "Once he makes his feelings known, we all use it as a guide-post." Brock has been particularly helpful in soothing Keith Hernandez, 25, the occasionally moody first baseman, who is batting .322. "He shows me how to handle the peaks and valleys," says Hernandez.

Relaxed and confident, the Cardinals are hitting like mad. The team average is .291, highest in the majors, and in a recently completed twelve-game home stand, St. Louis batted an astonishing .364. Seven of the starters are hitting over their lifetime averages. Rightfielder George Hendrick, 29, is batting .342, fourth in the league, and Shortstop Garry Templeton, 23, is averaging .332 and fielding with a brilliance that recalls the feats of the great Marty ("Slats") Marion, who played the position for the glorious Cardinal teams of the 1940s. With the hits falling like raindrops, small wonder that the Cards celebrate each victory in the locker room with a blaring disco rendition of We Are Family by Sister Sledge.

Next year the family patriarch of the St. Louis Cardinals will not be joining the celebrations, or so he claims. "I want to go out on top," he says, talking of his retirement, and he clearly is on top this year. If he does leave the. game, he will have no trouble filling his days. Brock already supplements his $250,000 salary by running Lu-Wan Enterprises (named after two of his three children: Lou Jr., 15, and Wanda, 17). The firm annually sells half a million hats topped with a multicolored umbrella that Brock designed himself. The company also handles T shirts inscribed U.S. OLYMPIC SEX TEAM. In addition, Brock owns a sporting-goods store and a flower shop, both in the St. Louis area, and works as a consultant for Converse sneakers.

Five years ago, pondering retirement, Brock said: "There's got to be a time when the 90 ft. to first base looks more like 110 ft. When that happens, I'll be the first to recognize it." For all his talk of quitting, first base still looks only 90 ft. away--and sometimes less. Louis Brock and the St. Louis Cardinals are off and running.

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