4 to Be Inducted Into Hall of Fame : Wilhelm, Brock Head the List Headed for Cooperstown

Hoyt Wilhelm did it with his arm, Lou Brock with his legs. They made life miserable for catchers.

“I didn’t worry about any problems with it,” said Wilhelm, the knuckleballer who helped bring the role of the relief pitcher into prominence. “I told the catcher, ‘After I turn it loose, it’s your responsibility.’ ”

While Wilhelm fluttered, Brock flew.

“Maury Wills brought speed and baserunning back as a force to be reckoned with,” said Brock, the all-time career stolen base leader with a record 938. “My career was an extension of the same thing.”

Today, Wilhelm and Brock, along with Enos (Country) Slaughter and Arky Vaughan, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, bringing to 193 the number of players inducted.

Brock’s path to Cooperstown may have started with a question, one that seems ridiculous in retrospect.

In June, 1964 , St. Louis completed a six-player trade with the Chicago Cubs in which the Cubs sent Brock to the Cardinals for pitcher Ernie Broglio.

After the trade was sealed, Cardinal Manager Johnny Keane approached Brock.

“You will be in the lineup provided you can steal bases. Can you steal bases?” Keane asked Brock.

Brock stole 50 or more bases for 12 straight years, and became only the 15th player to be elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility.

Brock was a career .293 batter with 3,023 hits, including 149 home runs. In 1974, he set a major league record of 118 stolen bases, which still stands as the National League mark.

Wilhelm had a 15-3 record with a 2.43 earned-run average and hit his only career home run in his first at-bat during his first season.

Appearing in 1,070 games, more than any other pitcher in baseball, Wilhelm pitched a no-hitter against the New York Yankees in 1958. He had 227 saves (fourth on the all-time list), a career ERA of 2.52 and a 143-122 record.

Wilhelm, 62, is the pitching coach for the class-A Sarasota, Fla., Yankees.

Slaughter and Vaughan were elected in March by the Hall’s Veterans Committee.

Slaughter was a career .300 hitter during 19 seasons, primarily with the Cardinals. He is best remembered for scoring from first on a single that won the 1946 World Series against the Boston Red Sox.

Vaughan, a shortstop, had a career average of .318 in 14 seasons and hit .385 in 1935--the highest NL mark since that time. He died in a boating accident in 1952, four years after he retired.