Maybe this was the Lou Brock the Cubs thought they were trading.
Thirty years after one of the most infamous trades in baseball history, another Lou Brock has become a fan favorite in Puerto Rico.
This Brock can’t catch a pop fly. He weighs about 94 pounds soaking wet. And he couldn’t hit if his life depended on it.
But this Brock is as famous as any of the 50 major-league stars and prospects playing in Puerto Rico this winter. He is the batboy for the San Juan Senators.
“He’s a legend,” says Cubs infielder Rey Sanchez. “Everybody knows him.”
Few, though, know his real name is Jose Luis Martinez. And nobody knows his real age. One player says with assurance he’s 52. San Juan manager Luis Melendez says “Brock” is around 40. Martinez says he’s 30.
Martinez introduces himself as “Jose” to newcomers, but then insists on being called Lou. He signs autographs and is listed on the San Juan roster as Lou Brock. Ask him and he will tell you how many times he hit .300 in the majors.
But this Brock’s claim to fame isn’t his alter ego’s Hall of Fame career. It’s his antics at San Juan home games, where he flits around Hiram Bithorn Stadium like a waterbug.
He rarely quits moving or talking. He chats with fans in the stands-and with umpires while they’re working. And, at the start of the visitors’ half of every inning, he has his moment of glory.
Wearing two batting gloves and blue wristbands that cover his forearms to the elbow, Brock grabs a well-worn mitt and waits for former Cub Carmelo Martinez to finish infield warmups.
Instead of doing what most first basemen do-throw the ball into the dugout-Martinez lofts a lazy, high pop fly toward the backstop. With the fans hooting and whistling with delight, “Brock” tries to make the catch.
Sometimes he succeeds. Usually he doesn’t. At one game last week, he missed five of eight and was greeted with an ever-louder chorus of good-natured boos after each flub.
The razzing never bothers “Brock,” who laughs and taunts the crowd back. Sometimes he’ll point a finger of blame at Martinez.
“He’s part of the game,” says Melendez. “It wouldn’t be the same without him.”
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