Lou Brock, who grew up in Mer Rouge in northeast Louisiana and starred on the baseball diamond for Southern’s Jaguars before a Baseball Hall of Fame career in the major leagues, was named to the 2012 class of the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
Brock, who broke the major leagues’ single-season and career stolen base records, will be enshrined June 29-30 in Lubbock, Texas.
“Selecting Lou Brock to represent the committee’s pick for induction into this year’s Hall of Fame class was an easy one,” said Jay Sokol of blackcollegenines.com. “Though most know him as a Major League Hall of Famer, his baseball credentials at Southern University stand on their own and make him a worthy candidate and deserving to be included amongst the greats of college baseball.”
As a sophomore, Brock played on the Southern team that won the 1959 NAIA College World Series — the first and only HBCU team to win an NAIA title. He was selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee to play for the USA in the Pan American Games. During his junior season in 1960, he hit .351 and stole 18 bases before signing a contract with the Chicago Cubs.
Brock had 3,023 hits (23rd all-time), 938 stolen bases (second all-time) and was named one of MLB’s Top 100 Players of the 20th Century after a 20-year career, the last 17 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Brock holds World Series records for the highest batting average (.391) in more than 21 games. He hit .375 in six All-Star Game outings, while hitting over .300 seven times in his career.
He owns a .293 career average and was the Sporting News Player of the Year in 1974. He played in three World Series, winning two.
