Bob Broeg

Robert William Patrick Broeg

• School University of Missouri
• High School Grover Cleveland High School (St. Louis)

• Born: March 18, 1918 in St. Louis, MO
• Died: October 28, 2005 in St. Louis, MO

Biographical Information

A lifetime St. Louisian, Bob Broeg officially covered the St. Louis Cardinals for forty years. A native of the city, he graduated from Grover Cleveland High School (Class of 1936) and the University of Missouri before entering the United States Marines. Broeg served in Washington as a result of an eye injury suffered at birth.

After the War, Broeg joined the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was privy to many important events in baseball history. Broeg was partially responsible for the famous picture of Eddie Gaedel at the plate in 1951. He told the photographer to stay at the game until Gaedel came to the plate and the picture was taken.

Later, he helped Bob Gibson win the 1967 World Series. Gibson was unable to get breakfast at the Cardinals' hotel in Boston so Broeg delivered a ham and egg sandwich to the star righthander. Gibson pitched a complete game and carried his team to victory.

Broeg was named to the Board of Directors of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, a position he held for 28 years. He was also a long-time member of the Committee on Baseball Veterans. His knowledge was reported to be encyclopedic, even into his 80s. He penned his last column in 2004.

The St. Louis chapter of SABR is named for Bob Broeg. He was awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 1972. He was elected to the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 1997.

Broeg said he wished his epitaph to read: "He was fair, as in just, not as in mediocre." Appropriately, Bob Broeg died five hours after the final game of the 2005 World Series. He was 87. He was fair, as in just.

Further Reading

• Bob Broeg: "The Game I'll Never Forget", Baseball Digest, April 1970, pp. 69-72. [1]

Related Sites

• Bob Broeg at the SABR Bio Project