Jim Brosnan was a man of many talents. He was a major league pitcher with the Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox and pitched five seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. He also wrote best-selling books on baseball while playing in the Major Leagues. His book “The Long Season”, which chronicled the 1960 season on day-to-day detail as he played for both the Cardinals and Reds that season, became a best seller and penned another successful book, “Pennant Race”, written about the 1961 season when the Reds won the pennant and that year’s World Series.
Brosnan passed away last year, but the storytelling of his books lives on with his two nephews Ken and Keith Brosnan who will lead a discussion of “The Long Season” at the Kenton County Public Library in Covington tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m.
Brosnan was born in Cincinnati in 1929 where he later attended and played ball for Elder High School, but soon transferred to Covington Latin where he graduated high school at the age of 15. He signed with the Chicago Cubs when he was 17, but had to put his baseball career on hold while he was enlisted in the Army for two years.
Once back in the minor leagues, he struggled on the mound at first but hit his stride soon enough, first cracking into the big leagues with the Cubs in 1954. Four years later, Brosnan enjoyed his highest win total, earning 11 wins with both the Cubs and Cardinals that season. He returned home to Cincinnati in 1959 and pitched in relief for the Reds for the next four seasons.
“He was always an intelligent man,” said his nephew, Ken Brosnan. “Writing was probably a bigger love for him than baseball was.”
His career total record was 55-47 with a 3.54 earned run average.
“He started out as a starter and was a pretty good pitcher. He was really good buddies with Fred Hutchinson and when he was traded here to the Reds, Hutchinson used him in a righty-lefty relief combination with left-hander Bill Henry. They were really one of the first relief pitchers used in specialist situations, and that’s when he really had the best five and six years of his career,” Ken Brosnan said.
In addition to his two best-selling books, Brosnan also wrote children’s books about major league players, season previews for Major League Baseball teams in spring training each year, as well as some literature for the Boy Scouts of America. Brosnan also broadcasted games over the radio for the Chicago White Sox in the city he lived in after retiring from baseball.
Brosnan’s books may be picked up at the Covington Library’s Reference Desk in advance of the discussion on July 16.
Written by Bryan Burke, associate editor/Photo: Jim Brosnan (Washington Post)