Brandon attended Nacogdoches High School in Texas and was signed as a free agent in 1959 by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Once a heralded pitching prospect, Brandon was an undistinguished reliever throughout most of his career. In 1966, his rookie season, he made 17 starts for Boston and finished 8-8, with a 3.31 ERA, a career-high 101 SO, two shutouts, and a two-hit, one-run game. But Brandon developed arm problems at this early stage of his career and slumped to 5-11, in 1967, then pitched only 12 innings, in 1968. A year later, he divided his playing time between the expansion Seattle Pilots and Minnesota and spent the entire 1970 season with the Triple-A Tucson Toros, in the Chicago White Sox farm system. From 1971 to 1973, Brandon collected 15 wins and eight saves for the Phillies, as a reliever and spot starter.

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