Guillermo "Memo" Luna Romero (June 25, 1930 – November 9, 2021) was a Mexican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player, a

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

pitcher whose career extended from 1949 through 1961 and who pitched one game of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

for the 1954 St. Louis Cardinals. Luna was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. At the height of his career, he stood tall and weighed . Luna had two seasons in the minor leagues. In 1951, he led the Class C Southwest International League in strikeouts (318) and

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(2.52) while posting a 26–13 won–lost record for the sixth-place

Tijuana Potros The Tijuana Cimarrones were a professional independent baseball franchise based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. They were originally a minor league baseball team in Liga Mexicana de Béisbol (Mexican Baseball League), but joined the Golden ...

. Two years later, Luna led the Open-Classification

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

in earned run average (2.67), as he won 17 of 29 decisions for the 1953

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

. That performance earned him a trial with the 1954 Cardinals. Luna started the Redbirds' sixth contest of the season, at

Busch Stadium Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is a baseball stadium located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the home of Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. It has a seating capacity of 44,383, ...

against the

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, but he faced only six batters in the top of the first

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

. He walked

Bobby Adams Robert Henry Adams (December 14, 1921 – February 13, 1997) was an American professional baseball third baseman and second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball from 1946 through 1959 for the Cincinnati Reds / Redlegs, Chicago White Sox, ...

; then

Roy McMillan Roy David McMillan (July 17, 1929 – November 2, 1997) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1951 to 1966, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, wh ...

hit a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, with Adams scoring on an

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

by Rip Repulski, which also allowed McMillan to advance to

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. Luna retired

Gus Bell David Russell "Gus" Bell Jr. (November 15, 1928 – May 7, 1995) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from 1950 to 1964, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds ...

on a fly ball, then got another

out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

when Jim Greengrass hit a

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

to score McMillan. With two outs and the bases empty, however, Luna gave up another double, to

Ted Kluszewski Theodore Bernard Kluszewski (September 10, 1924 – March 29, 1988), nicknamed "Big Klu", was an American professional baseball player, best known as a power-hitting first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds teams of the 1950s. He played from 1947 th ...

, and another walk, to

Johnny Temple John Ellis Temple (August 8, 1927 – January 9, 1994) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman from 1952 to 1964, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, where ...

. He then was replaced by

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

Mel Wright, who prevented further scoring. The two runs allowed by Luna, however, were enough to saddle him with the loss in an eventual 13–6 Cincinnati win. (The Redlegs' winning pitcher was

Joe Nuxhall Joseph Henry Nuxhall (; July 30, 1928 – November 15, 2007) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds. Immediately after retiring as a player, he became a radio broadcaster for the Reds f ...

). Luna was sent down to the Triple-A

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...

after that one appearance, and never returned to the Majors. In 1988 he was selected to the

Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame The Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Mexicano (in English, Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame), commonly called the Salón de la Fama (Hall of Fame) is a baseball hall of fame and museum located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, inaugurated on 10 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luna, Memo 1930 births 2021 deaths Alijadores de Tampico players Baseball players from Mexico City Indios de Ciudad Juárez (minor league) players Industriales de Monterrey players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Mexico 20th-century Mexican sportsmen Mexican expatriate baseball players in Cuba Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Mexican League baseball pitchers Omaha Cardinals players Petroleros de Poza Rica players Potros de Tijuana players Rochester Red Wings players San Antonio Missions players San Diego Padres (minor league) players St. Louis Cardinals players Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo players Tigres del México players