Despite cancer diagnosis, Lou Brock, 77, 'probably still can outrun Yadi'

With the exception of Rickey Henderson, baseball has never known a more prolific base-stealer than Lou Brock, the St. Louis Cardinals legend who swiped 938 bags throughout his illustrious 19-year career, and landed a spot in Cooperstown in his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot.

So even now, at 77, and despite a longstanding battle with diabetes that resulted in his left leg being amputated below the knee in 2015, Brock won't let his most recent health problem - he's undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer - diminish his confidence.

"Oh, man, I've got a sore body," Brock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "But, other than that, I probably still can outrun Yadi (Molina)."

(Not wanting Molina, the incumbent Cardinals icon, to take offense, Brock made sure to emphasize that he was joking: "Be sure to tell him he's my buddy.")

And just as Brock, a six-time All-Star with two World Series rings, hasn't lost faith in his ability to swipe a bag, his wife, Jackie, is similarly confident that her husband will be able to beat this thing, which forced him to cancel an upcoming appearance at Busch Stadium.

"We're just believing for an excellent prognosis," she said. "He's doing well. We're believing for victory and we're trying to get it for him. The challenges are out there but we've got the whole (Cardinals) team fighting for him."