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After the Cardinals acquired Jim Brosnan from the Cubs in 1958, he became a premier reliever and an accomplished author.

Brosnan pitched for the Cardinals in 1958 and 1959 and wrote baseball books such as “The Long Season,” “Pennant Race” and “The Ted Simmons Story.”

“The Long Season” chronicled Brosnan’s 1959 season with the Cardinals and Reds. “Pennant Race” was a diary about Brosnan’s season with the 1961 National League champion Reds. Both books rank among the best and most influential written about baseball. Brosnan, nicknamed “Professor” during his playing days, wrote with sly wit and intelligence.

“The Ted Simmons Story,” written while the Hall of Fame catcher was at the height of his Cardinals career, was a perfect pairing of author and subject. Brosnan and Simmons were two of the smartest, original thinkers to play the game.

Scholar joins St. Louis

Acquired from the Cubs for shortstop Alvin Dark on May 20, 1958, Brosnan was a starting pitcher before being converted into a reliever by Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson. In 12 starts for the 1958 Cardinals, Brosnan was 4-3 with a 4.50 ERA. In 21 relief appearances, he was 4-1 with seven saves and a 1.67 ERA. His overall numbers for the 1958 Cardinals: 8-4, 3.44 ERA in 33 games.

Oscar Kahan of The Sporting News wrote, “The scholarly, bespectacled right-hander … developed into one of the sharpest bullpen men in the National League.”

After the 1958 season, the Cardinals went on an exhibition tour of Japan. Brosnan filed articles about the trip for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In describing their arrival during a stopover in Hawaii, Brosnan wrote the team was greeted “by girls with leis who did their celebrated walk forward, placed the garlands around each blushing player’s neck and whispered ‘Aloha’ while nuzzling the right cheek.”

Aloha, Brosnan informed his St. Louis readers, “is used to say hello, to say goodbye and even just to be friendly when having nothing else to say.”

In “The Long Season,” Brosnan described how Cardinals teammates Don Blasingame and Joe Cunningham were out to “see everything and do everything” during the Japan trip.

“The Japanese bath is an unusual custom for an Occidental to enjoy, but it is an easy habit to get into,” Brosnan wrote. “If it’s not the first thing to do after you land in Japan, it may well be the last before you leave … Cunningham and Blasingame, in their anxiety to do the right thing by the Japanese as well as themselves, absorbed a maximum of Oriental culture on the last day and night of our stay in Tokyo. The rising sun found them padding quietly and contentedly through the lobby of the Imperial Hotel. Sleepless, perhaps, but loose as a goose, like they say.”

Columnist Red Smith described Brosnan the author as “provocative, blunt and highly entertaining. He writes well enough so he doesn’t have to rely on obscenity and scatology as a substitute for an ear for dialogue.”

St. Louis stumble

In 1959, Brosnan experienced a disastrous Opening Day against the Giants at St. Louis. With the Cardinals ahead, 4-3, manager Solly Hemus lifted starter Larry Jackson after seven innings and brought in Brosnan. The Giants scored twice against him in the eighth for a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, Alex Grammas had a RBI-single, tying the score at 5-5. Hemus could have removed Brosnan for a pinch-hitter, but allowed him to remain in the game to pitch the ninth.

Brosnan walked the leadoff batter and, one out later, Jackie Brandt hit a RBI-double. The Giants won, 6-5. Brosnan got the loss and was booed. Boxscore

In “The Long Season,” Brosnan wrote, “It doesn’t take very long, really, to lose your confidence. To embarrass yourself, jeopardize your position, maybe lose your job. Hemus went a long way with me. He could have taken me out. He should have taken me out.”

Heading to hometown

Brosnan allowed eight runs in six relief appearances from May 1 to May 10, 1959. In The Sporting News, Ralph Ray wrote, “From one of the best relief men in the NL a year ago … Brosnan turned into a dud as a fireman.”

Hoping a change in routine would help, Hemus gave Brosnan a start against the Phillies on June 7, 1959, at Philadelphia. It was a bust. Brosnan gave up four runs before he was yanked with one out in the first. The Phillies won, 11-9. Boxscore

The next day, back in St. Louis, Brosnan and his wife dined at Stan Musial’s restaurant. When they returned to the George Washington Hotel, where Brosnan resided during the season, a desk clerk called to Brosnan as he crossed the lobby.

“Solly Hemus was here just a while ago, Mr. Brosnan,” the clerk said. “He left this letter.”

Brosnan waited to open the envelope until he got to his room. The letter, from general manager Bing Devine, informed Brosnan he’d been traded to the Reds for pitcher Hal Jeffcoat. The date was June 8, 1959.

“I sat back on the couch, half-breathing as I waited for the indignation to flush good red blood to my head,” Brosnan wrote. “Nothing happened. I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. It’s true. The second time you’re sold you don’t feel a thing.”

Brosnan was 1-3 with two saves and a 4.91 ERA in 20 games for the 1959 Cardinals.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, he regained his form with the Reds and was reunited with Hutchinson, who became the Reds manager in July 1959. Brosnan was 10-4 with 16 saves and a 3.04 ERA in 53 appearances for the 1961 National League champion Reds.

In a nine-year major-league career with the Cubs, Cardinals, Reds and White Sox, Brosnan was 55-47 with 67 saves and a 3.54 ERA.

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(Updated June 26, 2020)

The Cardinals paid $75,000 and gave up a trio of players for a pitcher who netted them two outs.

Guillermo Romero “Memo” Luna pitched in one game for the Cardinals in 1954, failed to complete an inning and never played in the majors again.

A left-hander, Luna was the first Mexican-born player to appear in a game for the Cardinals.

On April 20, 1954, he got the start in his Cardinals debut against the Reds at St. Louis, even though his arm was hurting. In the clubhouse before the game, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported, “Luna smiled his usual pleasant fashion and said his arm felt fine and indicated by widening the grin and slapping his glove that he was ready to go out and do a little pitching.”

The confidence gave way to a shelling.

In the first inning, Luna yielded two runs on two doubles, two walks and a sacrifice fly. He was lifted with two outs. One of the outs came on a fly ball caught by Stan Musial with his back against the wall. Boxscore

“He was pounded so hard … that manager Eddie Stanky would hardly be justified in another such risky trial,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observed.

The Globe-Democrat declared Luna had “a hard time throwing a nickel’s worth” of the price the club paid to acquire him.

A few days later, the Cardinals sent Luna to their farm club in Rochester, N.Y.

Though he continued to pitch in the minor leagues and in Mexico until 1961, Memo Luna never returned to the majors.

His big-league career totals: 0-1 record, 27.00 ERA, 0.2 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 6 batters faced.

Super southpaw

In 1951, after he was 26-13 for Tijuana of the Southwest International League, Luna was pursued by the St. Louis Browns, but the San Diego club in the Pacific Coast League had a working agreement with Tijuana and acquired him. In addition to his pitching, Luna was a sketch artist. Asked what he sketched, Luna told the Globe-Democrat, “Everything in life.”

On Sept. 23, 1953, the Cardinals acquired Luna from San Diego for $75,000 and players to be named. They eventually sent pitchers Cliff Chambers and John Romonosky and outfielder Harry Elliott to San Diego, completing the deal.

At the time, Luna, 23, seemed worth the price. He had a 17-12 record and a league-best 2.67 ERA with 16 complete games for San Diego in 1953. Jack Bliss, a catcher for the 1908-1912 Cardinals, watched Luna at San Diego and told Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky, “He’s got exceptional control and a good curve.”

Cardinals scout Joe Mathes checked him out and was impressed. Luna is “a great control pitcher with other skills,” Mathes told the Post-Dispatch. “His knuckleball and curve are very good, he has tremendous poise on the mound and is outstanding in fielding his position and holding runners on base.”

That fall, Luna pitched in the Cuban League for Almendares and manager Bobby Bragan. The Cardinals granted permission with the understanding Luna would quit around Dec. 1, The Sporting News reported.

Luna posted a 4-1 record in his first five decisions for Almendares. The Sporting News wrote Luna “has shown remarkable poise and control, plus a fine knuckler.”

After Luna lost his next two decisions as the Dec. 1 deadline loomed, the Cardinals suggested he leave Cuba and rest his arm before reporting to spring training in February. Luna obliged and went to St. Louis, where he passed a physical examination.

While in St. Louis, Luna told the Cardinals that a day in his honor was being planned in Mexico City and he was being asked to pitch, the Globe-Democrat reported. The Cardinals misunderstood, thinking the game was in December, not February, and agreed to let Luna pitch, the Globe-Democrat reported.

Luna went home to Mexico, believing he had the Cardinals’ approval to pitch on Memo Luna Day.

Worn down

On Feb. 19, 1954, pitching for the Mexico City Reds against Aztecas, Luna struck out a batter in the third inning and grabbed his left elbow in pain.

According to The Sporting News, Luna stayed in the game until its completion, yielding five runs and nine hits in nine innings, and “was throwing with only half speed after the injury.” It was the second farewell game he pitched since returning to Mexico. The Cardinals’ front office had approved him to pitch only one, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Luna reported late to Cardinals spring training camp in Florida, complaining of a sore arm.

“We asked Luna to quit pitching Dec. 1, but we have no way of controlling what a man does back in his home country,” said Stanky.

In spring training, Luna failed to impress. He gave up three runs in two innings to the Phillies and surrendered a two-run, game-winning home run to the Reds’ Gus Bell. The Post-Dispatch described his exhibition game efforts as “a sorry spring.”

Having paid a high price for him, the Cardinals put Luna on the Opening Day roster. He got the start in the Cardinals’ sixth game of the season _ and never got another chance with them again.

“Luna, in Spanish, means moon, but only the English version, outfielder Wally Moon, has resembled a star in the making,” the Post-Dispatch concluded.

After Luna’s demotion to Rochester, Bob Burnes of the Globe-Democrat wrote, “Whether he hurt his arm before he started for spring training or whether it was something else, like maybe getting and feeling a little lost in the hustle and bustle of major league work, no one can say except Luna and he apparently can’t explain it himself. If he regains his control and confidence, both of which he must have to win, the Cardinals probably will accommodate him with a second look. If he doesn’t, they’ll probably leave him at Rochester.”

In late June 1954, when asked whether Luna would be a candidate to return to the Cardinals, Rochester manager Harry Walker told the Post-Dispatch, “Frankly, I’d have to consider him doubtful.”

Luna told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, “Could I pitch for the Cardinals? Without the fastball, no. If my arm was not hurt anymore, I can pitch for the Cardinals.”

Said Walker: “His changeup and his curveball are his strong points, but his control has to be sharp or he’s in trouble.”

Luna was 9-11 with a 3.50 ERA for Rochester in 1954.

Used primarily in relief, Luna pitched for manager Johnny Keane with the Cardinals’ farm club in Omaha in 1955 and was 4-4 with a 5.43 ERA. Luna spent a season in the Orioles’ farm system and played the rest of his career in Mexico.

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