1976 Kellogg's #40 - Lou Brock

 

• What did he do to deserve a 1976 Kellogg's card?
• Was an NL All Star in 1975
• Got some votes for 1975 NL MVP (21st place)
• Even though he wouldn't get his 3000th hit for a few more years, Lou was probably already pretty close to being a Hall of Famer.
• He didn't lead the NL in stolen bases in 1975, but he stole over 50 bases for the 11th year in a row. Lou led the NL in stolen bases in eight of those 11 years.
• 1976 Highlights:
• Stole 56 bases to extend his 50+ stolen base streak to 12 years.
• Batted .301, which was the sixth season over .300 in the last seven years

1976 Hostess #7 - Lou Brock

• This is a pretty consistent run of five seasons
• Brock made the NL All Star team in 1971, 1972, 1974, and 1975
• Lou led the NL in stolen bases each year from 1971-1974
• He set the major league record for stolen bases with 118 in 1974
• Lou would have another good season in 1976 before hitting the decline phase of his career
• Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak (or perhaps just at the end of it)

1976 Topps Card of the Year - round 3, group 2

• Pete Rose, Dave Parker, World Series Champs, and the Kurt Bevacqua Bubble Blowing Card will move on to the final eight. I had to make a decision between the Worlds Series Champs and the Luis Tiant cards since both had the same number of votes.
• Here are the cards from the "other side of the bracket." Please vote for your favorite card(s) from this group. The top four cards will move on to the final eight.

Steve Garvey #150

Carl Yastrzemski #230 

Jerry Reuss #60

Oscar Gamble traded #74T

Johnny Bench #300

Ray Fosse #554

Fred Lynn #50

Lou Brock #10

1976 Topps Card of the Year (Round 2, Group 1)

• Well the first round is over. Tito Fuentes, Willie Horton, the World Series card, and Steve Ontiveros all advance to the second round.

• In this round we'll have four groups of eight cards. I randomized the cards into new groups. The top four cards from each group will advance to the next round.

• Here are the cards for this round:

Ray Fosse #554

Ron Cey #370

Lou Brock #10

Jim Palmer #450

Johnny Bench #300

Fred Lynn #50

Hank Aaron Record Breaker #1

George Hendrick #570

1976 Topps Card of the Year (Round 1, Group 5)

• The top four vote-getters from group 4 were Hank Aaron Record Breaker, Jerry Reuss, Jim Palmer, and Johnny Bench. Those cards will move on to the next round.

• Here are the competitors in group 5. Please vote for your four favorites from this group. The top four cards will move on to the next round.

Ken Henderson #464

Kurt Bevacqua Bazooka Bubble Blowing Championship #564

Lou Brock #10

Luis Tiant #130

Manny Sanguillen #220

Mickey Lolich #385

Mike Cuellar #285

Mike Marshall #465

1976 Topps #197 - NL Stolen Base Leaders

• I love the stolen base. Games go on longer when speedsters get on base, but it's more exciting to me than to sit back and wait for the long ball.

• Dave Lopes led the NL in stolen bases in 1975 and 1976. He was a great percentage base stealer--his lifetime success percentage was 83% and he stole 557 bases in his career.

• Joe Morgan never led the league in stolen bases, but he stole 40 or more bases every year from 1969-1977. Morgan's lifetime success rate was 81% and he stole 689 bases in his career.

• Lou Brock was the greatest base stealer of all time until Rickey Henderson came along. As evidenced on the back of this card, Brock led the NL in stolen bases every year except one from 1966-1974. He was second in 1964, 1965, and 1970. He also led the NL in caught stealing seven times. Brock had 938 career stolen bases and a lifetime 75% success rate.
  

1976 Topps #10 - Lou Brock

This story has to do with 1975, but I'll mention it anyway.

It was September and I was very close to completing my 1975 Topps set. It was my first year of trying to complete a set. I had spend many allowances at the nearby Circle K on baseball cards and Wacky Packages stickers. For some reason, Lou Brock was really hard to get. Early one Saturday morning I went across the street to Jimmy's house. In the window screen I saw two Lou Brock cards. Jimmy was a real wheeler-dealer, and itt cost me a lot of football cards to get one of those Lou Brocks. I didn't care -- it was only football. :)

I still have that card. I've since upgraded, but I'll always remember how hard it was to get my '75 Lou Brock.