Hall of Fame Baseball Legend Lou Brock Was a Member of Phi Beta Sigma

Did you know that Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock, one of the greatest base stealers in the history of the game, was a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.? Brock was initiated through the Rho Chapter at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

Louis Clark Brock was born on June 18, 1939, in El Dorado, Arkansas, and raised in Collinston, Louisiana, one of nine children in a family that knew the poverty and segregation of the Deep South. He arrived at Southern University, an HBCU, on an academic scholarship, and after losing it to early struggles, he earned an athletic scholarship by impressing the baseball coach. He blossomed into a star, crossing into Phi Beta Sigma around 1959 and earning a spot on the U.S. team at the 1959 Pan American Games.

Brock reached the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs in 1961, but his career truly ignited after a 1964 trade sent him to the St. Louis Cardinals, a deal now remembered as one of the most lopsided in baseball history. In St. Louis, he became a catalyst, helping the Cardinals win the World Series in 1964 and 1967 and hitting a blistering .391 across his three Fall Classic appearances.

On the base paths, few have ever matched him. A six-time All-Star, Brock led the National League in stolen bases eight times and swiped a then-record 118 bases in a single season in 1974. In 1977, he broke Ty Cobb’s all-time career stolen base record, a mark many had considered untouchable, and he retired in 1979 with 938 steals and membership in the exclusive 3,000-hit club. In 1985, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

MLB Remembers Hall of Famer and Cardinals Legend Lou Brock

Brock’s legacy endures throughout the game he loved. The National League’s annual stolen base leader still receives the Lou Brock Award, and the Cardinals retired his number 20. After baseball, he became a successful businessman and an ordained minister, and he established a scholarship fund at his alma mater, Southern University. Lou Brock died on September 6, 2020, at the age of 81, remembered as a trailblazer whose life reflected the Phi Beta Sigma motto, “Culture for Service and Service for Humanity.”

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