team in Tulsa, he was initially hesitant to report there, wondering whether he was ready for Class AAA baseball. In his first at bat at the Class AAA level, McBride hit a ball off of the outfield wall and seemed to collect a triple, but he was called out for failing to touch second base. Early years with the Cardinals McBride made his major league debut for the Cardinals in 1973, but he retained his rookie status after only appearing in 40 games that year. He became known for a distinctive appearance, as he wore one of the largest Afro hairstyles in the major leagues. When he stepped to home plate to bat, McBride made a ritual of wiping away the chalk lines that made up the batter's box. He used an unconventional batting stance, placing his weight on his front foot rather than on his back foot. Late in the 1974 season, McBride scored the winning run in a 25-inning game against the New York Mets. He hit an infield single, and then he scored from first base when pitcher Hank Webb's pickoff attempt went into right field and the catcher made an error while receiving the throw to home plate. At the time, the game was the second longest in MLB history at seven hours and four minutes. He finished the 1974 season with 173 base hits, 30 stolen bases, and a .309 batting average, and was named the National League's Rookie of the Year. He was the first Cardinal to earn the award since Bill Virdon in . As a young Cardinals player, McBride said that he learned a great deal from the influence of teammate Lou Brock. McBride felt that Brock should have won the 1974 Most Valuable Player Award. Brock stole 118 bases that year, which broke the single-season league record. When combined with McBride's 30 steals, the total set a single-season MLB record for stolen bases by two teammates. Other than Brock and McBride, no St. Louis Cardinal had stolen 30 bases in a season since 1927. The 1974 Cardinals outfielders (McBride, Brock and Reggie Smith) all hit over .300, the first time since 1902 that the team's three starting outfielders all achieved that mark. In 1975, McBride moved from the fifth spot to the third spot in the Cardinals' batting order. He suffered an early-season shoulder injury that caused him to miss almost