Outside The Confines: Remembering baseball legends

On Friday, we wrote fairly extensively about the impact of Tom Seaver on baseball and how beloved he’d been, especially to the Mets fanbase. On Sunday, a man who loomed large in the mythos for Cardinals fans (and Cubs fans) passed away at the age of 81.

Lou Brock’s death was a sad addition to a year already heavy with Hall of Fame superstar losses, starting with Al Kaline and then Tom Seaver and now Brock. Brock, a six-time All-Star and two-time World Series winner, spent four years with the Cubs before the infamous deal for Ernie Broglio that brought him to the Cardinals, where he spent his last 16 seasons putting together a Hall of Fame resume.

The news of his passing hit later in the afternoon on Sunday, not allowing for many reporters to dig into stories, but expect the Wednesday links post to be heavy with Lou Brock content. We will also have more on Brock here at BCB later today.

• ESPN shared the news of Brock’s passing.
• Buster Olney thinks a mic’d up Bryce Harper is precisely what the world needs more of.
• Roger Clemens remembers Tom Seaver.
• Ian Casselberry remembers the long broadcasting career of Tom Seaver.
• Rachael McDaniel takes a look at the difficult balance between loving baseball and realizing the toll this season is truly taking.
• What can America learn from MLB’s experiment with operating during coronavirus, ask Louise Radnofsky and Jared Diamond.
• Emma Baccellieri gives us some insight into the man behind all that fake crowd noise.
• Erik Kratz will be an MLB manager one day, no doubt.

• Craig Edwards looks at the increased value of Austin Nola this year.
• MLB’s photos of the week, collected by Nick Groke. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• How a Danish brewery’s art director got into the baseball card game, a story from Meghan Montemurro and Eno Sarris. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• The anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr.’s incredible streak of games played passed this weekend, and Tim Kurkjian looks at what a huge impact it had on baseball.
• He was supposed to throw out a first pitch to mark the occasion but it looked a little unusual this year.

• Dan Connolly has an oral history of that night. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• How can one man run this fast?!

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.