On this day in 1943, Jose Rosario Domec Cardenal was born in Matanzas, Cuba. He was just a few weeks shy of his 17th birthday when the Giants signed him as an amateur free agent in September of 1960, and by 1963 he was in the majors with them. San Francisco was the first of his nine major league cities over 18 seasons.
One of Cardenal's briefest stops among those teams was Milwaukee: He played just 53 games there after being acquired from the Cardinals in July, 1971 and before being shipped off to the Cubs in December of the same year. Both the trades that brought him to and sent him out of Milwaukee were interesting, though: The Brewers dealt away second baseman/shortstop Ted Kubiak to acquire Cardenal and received pitcher Jim Colborn and others from the Cubs for him. Colborn went on to pitch over 1100 innings in five seasons as a Brewer and was the first pitcher in franchise history to win 20 games in a season.
Cardenal was one of six Cuban players to wear a Pilots or Brewers uniform in the team's first four seasons. There have only been four since:
| Player | Season(s) |
| Tony Fossas | 1989-90 |
| Alex Sanchez | 2001-03 |
| Adrian Hernandez | 2004 |
| Yuniesky Betancourt | 2011 |
Cardenal turns 68 today. With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- Brevard County Manatee Hunter Morris, who turns 23.
- 1995-97 Brewer Tim Unroe, who turns 41.
- 2000 Brewer Jim Bruske, who turns 47.
- 1978-79 Brewer Andy Repogle, who turns 58.
- Seattle Pilot Dick Bates, who turns 66.
- Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer John O'Donoghue, who turns 72.