Agapito Mayor handed Cardinals their only defeat during 1940 American Series

Program for the St. Louis Cardinals' "American Series" tour of Cuba in 1940 that went up for auction Wednesday at Hake's Americana and Collectibles.

From March 28-31, the Cardinals won the first three games against a Cuban all-star team before losing 4-2 to Cuban lefty Agapito Mayor at Cerveza Tropical Stadium.

The Cardinals team include Johnny Mize (depicted on the cover) and Enos Slaughter. The Cuban stars include Manager Adolfo Luque, Lefty Tiant, Cocaina Garcia and Alejandro Crespo.

Cardinals split their four games against Habana and Almendares in 1936 visit

Program for the "American Series" games March 5-8, 1936 between the visiting St. Louis Cardinals and Habana and Almendares of the Cuban League.

According to Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961, the Cardinals split the four games during their spring training trip to Cuba, beating Almendares 5-4 and 6-1 and losing to Habana 13-8 and 2-1, with the Leones' Brujo Rosell picking up both victories.

But Miguel Angel Gonzalez, who had played most of his 23-year Cuban League career with the Habana, instead served on the coaching staff of the Cardinals, whose roster included Johnny Mize, Frankie Frisch, Leo Durocher, Pepper Martin and Joe Medwick.

Cardinals played series in Cuba in March, 1940

Postcard from Havana's RHC Cadena Azul radio station commemorating the St. Louis Cardinals' spring training visit to Cuba in March of 1940.

The Cardinals, held spring training in St. Petersburg, Fla., that year, but played four games in Havana against a Cuban all-star squad managed by Adolfo Luque. The Cards won the first three games by scores of 5-4, 5-3 and 6-0, according to Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961.

But the Cubans, behind the pitching of Agapito Mayor, beat St. Louis 4-2 in the American Series finale.

The Cardinals team included Mickey Owen, Johnny Mize, Pepper Martin, Enos Slaughter and a lefty pitcher who seven years later would team up with Mayor to give Almendares a three-game pennant-clinching sweep of Habana: Max Lanier.