St . Louis Gunners The St . Louis Gunners , were an independent professional football team based in St . Louis , Missouri , who played the last three games of the 1934 National Football League season , replacing the Cincinnati Reds on the league schedule after the Reds ' league membership was suspended . They won their first game against the Pittsburgh Pirates ( now Steelers ) 6 - 0 , but lost the last two to the Detroit Lions ( 40 - 7 ) and the Green Bay Packers ( 21 - 14 ) . Six of the Reds players joined the team for the last two games . The team was headquartered at the St . Louis National Guard Armory , which accounts for its nickname the ' Gunners ' . History . Origins . In 1931 , the 126th Field Artillery of the Missouri National Guard , announced through its spokesman that it would sponsor a team for the upcoming football season . The club was originally called the Batter A Gunners from its association with the Guard . Future Hall - of - Famer Jimmy Conzelman , was named the team ' s first head coach . Bud Yates was named the team ' s general manager . 1931 - 1933 . The Gunners posted a 5 - 2 - 1 record in 1931 . However they lost to the NFL ' s Chicago Cardinals , 26 - 6 . After the game Cardinals captain , Ernie Nevers , called the Gunners the " best independent club we have ever faced . " A game against a second NFL team , the New York Giants , was scheduled but later canceled that season , to avoid conflict with another game involving a team of Notre Dame All - Stars . For the team ' s second season , Bullet Baker was named the teams new coach . While most of the core of the team was kept intact , the Gunners brought in Dick Thornton and Mack Gladden from the University of Missouri . Meanwhile Yates left the team for the season , for a position with the cross - town St . Louis Veterans . The 1932 Gunners posted a 7 - 4 - 1 record . The team was able to play their rival the Memphis Tigers to a standoff in three games , St . Louis winning 6 - 0 , Memphis winning 12 - 0 , and the third game ending in a scoreless tie . Later that year the Tigers , Gunners and the Oklanhoma City Chiefs each laid some claim to a mythical “ independent championship , ” . Two of the team ' s losses that season came against NFL caliber opponents , the Cardinals , 20 - 7 , and the Portsmouth Spartans , 12 - 0 . By 1933 , the team had been renamed the " St . Louis Gunners " . Most of the ties the team had with the National Guard had been severed . For example , the players were no longer required to stay at the Battery A barracks , as they had in the past . Dick Frahm , Babe Lyon , and Charley Malone were signed from the Washington Redskins . The team posted an 11 - 2 - 3 record in 1933 . This year however managed to defeat many of the NFL teams it had faced . The Gunners defeated the NFL ' s Brooklyn Dodgers 21 - 2 , and the Chicago Cardinals 28 - 7 . The team also held the Chicago Bears to a scoreless tie . The team ' s only two NFL loss of the year came against Green Bay Packers and the Cincinnati Reds . The team had also managed to outscore their opponents 297 - 72 . Entry into the NFL . On August 8 , 1934 , before the start of the NFL season , St . Louis purchased the NFL ' s Cincinnati Reds for $ 20 , 000 . However the Gunners needed the other league owners to approve the sale . Only then would the Gunners would be official members . On August 17 , the other owners decided to reject the Gunners bid to buy the Reds , probably because St . Louis was too far removed from the rest of the clubs , all in the Northeast , and yearly trips there would have increased travel expenses . Meanwhile the Gunners declined membership into the minor league American Football League . As a result , the new league decided to form the St . Louis Blues . Gunners GM Bud Yates was credited with founding the team . The Blues even lured Dick Frahm away from the Gunners and even took over the lease of Public Schools Stadium . As a result , the Gunners moved their home games to Sportsman ' s Park . Meanwhile Chile Walsh became the team ' s forth head coach in four years . The Gunners started their 1934 season , 5 - 0 against several semi - pro teams . The team was searching desperately for decent teams to compete against . However on November 6 , 1934 , the NFL finally approved the sale of the Cincinnati Reds to St . Louis for $ 20 , 000 - $ 30 , 0000 . The Gunners were now officially members of the NFL and were invited to play the Reds last 3 games of the 1934 NFL season . The Blues then moved to Kansas City two days later in order to avoid fighting the Gunners for control of the St . Louis fanbase . 1934 NFL season . The Gunners defeated their first NFL opponent , the Pittsburgh Pirates , 6 - 0 . However , a week later they were defeated by the Detroit Lions 40 - 7 . The team managed to defeat the Pirates again in a 10 - 0 rematch , but the game , scheduled while the Gunners were still playing independently , was subsequently ruled an exhibition . The Gunners did lose a close game to the Packers a week later , 21 - 14 , before dropping another close game to the Dodgers 17 - 14 . The Gunners ended their 1934 season with a 7 - 0 win over the Kansas City Blues . Independent . When the Gunners left the NFL , they were replaced by the Cleveland Rams . The Gunners returned to being an independent team , which they remained until the founding of an American Football League in 1938 . That year , the Gunners finished in second place with a 4 - 3 - 1 record , just behind the Chicago Indians ' 5 - 1 - 0 . The following year , in the newly - renamed American Professional Football Association , the Gunners finished fifth in the league with a 5 - 6 - 0 record , well behind the league champion Los Angeles Bulldogs , two years after the Bulldogs ' perfect season in the second AFL . The Gunners had officially withdrawn from the league after their eighth game in 1939 , and agreed to play out the remaining three games of their APFA schedule ( with the results counting in the standings for all teams involved ) . As the minor league fell apart in 1940 ( due to a newly - formed major American Football League admitting three APFA teams to its membership ) , the Gunners applied to join the embryonic league . When the Gunners ' application was eventually denied , the team returned to an independent status until they disbanded in 1941 . After the Gunners left the NFL in 1934 , the league did not return to St . Louis until the Cardinals relocated from Chicago in 1960 . The current version of the St . Louis Gunners is an independent flag football team that plays in and around the St . Louis area .