"You're not going to believe this," Ernie Broglio tells a visitor in the living room of his modest home. "I had breast cancer. They operated earlier this year. ...
"It's a pretty good gash. They say that six or seven lymph nodes had (cancer cells), so they got it."
When told that the struggling Cubs player he was traded for — Hall of Famer Lou Brock — recently had announced he was cancer-free, Broglio brightened.
"Oh, fantastic," Broglio said. "I know he had a problem with his leg (Brock's left leg was amputated just below the knee in 2015 after a diabetes-related infection). That's great for Lou. I'm happy for him."
The paths of Broglio, 82, and Brock, 76, crossed in 1964 when Broglio was at the zenith of his career and Brock had failed to develop into the impact player the Cubs envisioned. The trade is considered one of the worst in baseball history as Brock went on to a stellar career that included the National League record of 938 stolen bases. No doubt it will come up again this weekend when the Cardinals visit Wrigley Field.
Broglio, who was 18-8 with a 2.99 ERA in 250 innings for the Cardinals in 1963, believed that Ray Washburn was supposed to be dealt, along with outfielder Doug Clemens and pitcher Bobby Shantz, for pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth and Brock — who hit .257 in 327 games with the Cubs.
But Broglio was dealt in a six-player trade that he says never would have been approved today because players being traded now must get medical clearance.
"I had 18 cortisone shots in my shoulder in 1963," Broglio said with a laugh. "Plus what they were shooting in my elbow."
He made 35 starts that season and pitched in 39 games.
Before the trade, the Cardinals were tied for seventh with the Dodgers, one game behind the Cubs. But Brock went on to hit .348 with 33 stolen bases, 12 home runs and 44 RBIs in vaulting the Cardinals to the World Series, while Broglio was 4-7 with a 4.04 ERA as the Cubs finished eighth.
Soon after finishing the 1964 season with the Cubs, Broglio had elbow surgery but rushed back to spring training. He struggled all season, finishing with a 1-6 record and 6.93 ERA over 502/3 innings in 26 appearances, including only six starts.
Broglio admired the loyalty of hard-core Cubs fans ("When I was there, we were lucky to get 5,000 people in the stands"), as well as the toughness of manager Leo Durocher.
"I had the opportunity to play for them for only 2 { years before they sent me to Tacoma," Broglio recalled. "But (Durocher) would have gotten more out of me because the tougher they were, the more I liked it. I didn't like the easygoing guy."
Durocher's first season with the Cubs in 1966 was Broglio's last in the big leagues as he was finished at age 30.
Broglio was fond of day baseball only when the wind was blowing in, and he confessed to enjoying the Chicago nightlife.
"I enjoyed my drinking, and that's why I didn't enjoy day baseball," Broglio said. "It did cause me a little trouble. I should have taken care of myself a little more, but I didn't."
Broglio's career ended in 1967 when he had the distinction of pitching at Triple-A Buffalo to a 19-year-old catcher named Johnny Bench.
"(Bench) threw two people out at second base on his knees, blocking the ball in the dirt and firing to second," Broglio said. "Oh, my God. Within a month, (the Reds) called him up."
Broglio served as a pitching coach at Santa Clara University in the early 1970s and at four local high schools. He made a strong impression on his pupils for his methods and his candidness.
"He was a great teacher," said Mike Machado, who hired Broglio as his pitching coach in the early 1990s at Saratoga High School. "He was solid with mechanics as well as sharing his sense of humor, which put the kids at ease. ... Our community loved him, and the fathers were ecstatic. His resume was impressive."
Broglio, who raised four children with his wife in the same comfortable home he bought in 1959, continues to give private lessons to kids and is careful about use of his signature wipeout curve.
"I teach them the fastball and changeup up to 12 years old," said Broglio, who winces at leagues that require 13-year-old pitchers to make the adjustment of throwing from 46 feet in Little League to 60 feet, 6 inches.
"I'll teach a curveball (to 13-year-olds), but not from a 60-foot-6-inch distance. I teach them to learn to rotate that wrist from about 30 feet until we really get it."
The trade from the Cardinals to the Cubs threw a curve into Broglio's career, but he was grateful to play with Stan Musial, Bob Gibson and Curt Flood in St. Louis and Billy Williams and Ernie Banks in Chicago.
"I think those are the two best towns to play baseball in," Broglio said, even as he recalled watching a television documentary a few years ago on the failures of the Cubs that panned the Wrigley Field bleachers, where a fan yelled, "Where's Broglio?"
"I told my wife I couldn't believe what I just heard," Broglio chuckled.
Broglio, who turned 82 on Aug. 27, was delighted for the Cubs and their fans who blamed him as part of their World Series curse that finally ended last fall.
"I thought it was great for baseball, being that 1945 was the last time they went to a World Series," Broglio said. "But winning it was great for baseball because it was so many years they were in last place or fighting to get into (the playoffs). It was just great for baseball."
Despite the spectrum of fortunes, Brock and Broglio were friendly as they participated in card shows, and Broglio was happy to assist a few of Brock's relatives in looking for hotel accommodations during a Bay Area visit a few years ago.
"What's interesting about this (trade) is they're still talking about (it)," Broglio said. "That's amazing. I don't understand why they talk about it so much.
"It could be because he got the opportunity to be in the Hall of Fame. And I got the opportunity to go to the Hall of Shame."
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