Cardinals Trade Pitcher Ernie Broglio to Cubs for Outfielder Lou Brock

June 15, 1964 - The St. Louis Cardinals traded starting pitcher Ernie Broglio to the Chicago Cubs today for promising left-handed-hitting outfielder Lou Brock in a six-player deal.

The Redbirds gave up outfielder Doug Clemens and veteran southpaw pitcher Bobby Shantz also, and they obtained southpaw hurler Jack Spring and regained righthander Paul Toth.

The Cards immediately assigned Toth to Jacksonville and called up lefthanded pitcher Mike Cuellar from the International League farm club there.

The Cubs, in their own organizational action, sent former St. Louis outfielder Don Landrum to their Salt Lake City club of the Pacific Coast League and recalled outfielder Billy Ott.

The deal on today’s trading deadline was completed in mid-day by general managers Bing Devine of the Cardinals and John Holland of the Cubs.

Devine, making this horrible weak-hitting stretch in which the Cards have fallen below .500 with 10 defeats in their last 13 games, made his second bid in a 36-hour period to shore up the Cards’ peaked outfield punch.

Veteran lefthanded-hitting Bob Skinner, acquired from Cincinnati Saturday for $35,000 and a minor league catcher (Jim Saul).

The key men in today’s trade were the 28-year-old Broglio, a 21-game winner in 1960 and an 18-8 hurler last season, and Brock, a swift, powerful 25-year-old outfielder in his third major league season.

Both had been disappointing this year. Broglio was 3-5 for the Redbirds with a 3.53 ERA in 65 innings in which he gave up 26 walks and seven home runs. He had 36 strikeouts.

Brock, rushed up to the Cubs after only one year in the minors, batted .263 and .258 each of the last two years, occasionally hitting tremendous home runs (nine each year), including one of only two ever hit into the center field section of the Polo Grounds.

An improving outfielder with an adequate arm, Brock was batting .251 this year with nine doubles, two triples, two homers and 14 RBI’s in 215 at-bats. He had stolen 10 bases for the Cubs.

Manager Johnny Keane said he would play Brock regularly against both lefthanded and righthanded pitching.

Chicago’s need is starting pitching, so that Broglio would fit into the club’s plans.

“This gives us as good a pitching staff as there is in the league,” said Cub manager Bob Kennedy after cutting short participation in a golf outing. Brock had fallen into some disfavor with Kennedy, a stickler for sound application of baseball’s fundamentals. Kennedy was at times irritated by Brock’s erratic outfield play and occasionally unsound baserunning.

For the Cardinals, whose pitching has held up even in the discouraging offensive outlook, the aspect of the deal that is most significant — next to the acquisition of Brock — was the decision wo bring up Cuellar.

A 27-year-old Cuban who had only a two-game major league trial with Cincinnati in 1959, the lefthanded Cuellar has developed a screwball at Jacksonville. He owned a 6-1 record there with a sparkling 1.78 ERA, a result of only 57 hits and 15 walks in 75 innings, during which he fanned 64.

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