It Appears His Hype Springs Eternal

One of the worst trades in baseball history was a six-player deal in 1964 in which the Chicago Cubs sent Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals. The key player the Cubs got was pitcher Ernie Broglio.

Brock ended up having a Hall of Fame career and Broglio went 7-19 for the Cubs.

Brock, in Cooperstown, N.Y., last weekend for the Hall of Fame inductions, recalled that one of the Chicago newspapers sent out a young reporter to do the story on the trade.

“It was the first story this reporter would ever write,” Brock said. “The headline on his story the next day read, ‘Cubs Get Greatest Steal Ever.’

“This reporter was a kid named Brent Musburger. And he got it wrong.”

Trivia time: When Brock set the major league record for steals in a season with 118 in 1974, whose record did he break?

Slowing down: Brock, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985, finished his career in 1979 with a then-record 938 stolen bases. In his final season, at 40, he stole 21 bases.

“I was at an age where you want to call a cab to take you to the next base,” he said.

Different viewpoint: Kirk Gibson’s home run off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series has been voted the greatest moment in Los Angeles sports history.

When that was pointed out to Eckersley prior to his Hall of Fame induction, he said, “That’s wonderful, I’m thrilled.

“It’s an incredible moment for baseball, it really was. Just a horrible moment for me.”

Not all bad: Eckersley also said of giving up that home run: “People thought, ‘You poor thing.’ But I didn’t feel like a poor thing at all. My life had turned around and I was happy I could be where I’d come from.... Maybe it was supposed to happen to me because I could handle it. I saved a lot of games after that, which I’m very proud of.”

Odd advice: Asked what other Hall of Famers had told him about preparing for his induction, Eckersley said, “For the most part, everybody’s telling you don’t be so long with the speech. It’s like, jeez, that’s all you hear.

“The next thing is, it will be better next year. What is that? It’s like it’s this year. Come on!”

Cool it: Will those over-50 golfers be able to handle playing 36 holes in St. Louis heat and humidity today for the U.S. Senior Open title?

“I think the only people that are going to complain are the people who work in the air-conditioning,” Fuzzy Zoeller said. “As far as golfers go, we’re used to it.”

Looking back: On this day in 1972, Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres hit five home runs and drove in 13 runs in a doubleheader sweep of the Atlanta Braves, 9-0 and 11-1.

Trivia answer: Maury Wills, who stole 104 bases for the Dodgers in 1962.

And finally: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on Tiger Woods: “He’s the best golfer never to have won one of the last nine majors.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.