I thought he was an umpire.

In a WTF MVP vote in '72, Brinkman finished 9th with an OPS+ of 59!

Rk Name Team Place Points | AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO
1 Dick Allen CHW 21 321 | 506 156 37 0.308 1.023 19|
2 Joe Rudi OAK 1 164 | 593 181 19 0.305 0.831 3|
3 Sparky Lyle NYY 1 158 | 21 4 0 0.19 0.465 0| 5-Sep 108 1.92 1.05 75
4 Carlton Fisk BOS 0 96 | 457 134 22 0.293 0.908 5|
5 Bobby Murcer NYY 0 89 | 585 171 33 0.292 0.898 11|
6 Gaylord Perry CLE 0 88 | 110 17 1 0.155 0.397 0| 24-16 343 1.92 0.98 234
7 Wilbur Wood CHW 0 78 | 125 17 0 0.136 0.312 0| 24-17 377 2.51 1.06 193
8 Luis Tiant BOS 0 70 | 56 6 0 0.107 0.263 0| 15-6 179 1.91 1.08 123

=>9 Ed Brinkman DET 0 62 | 516 105 6 0.203 0.538 0|

10 Mickey Lolich DET 1 60 | 89 6 0 0.067 0.312 0| 22-14 327 2.5 1.09 250
11 Catfish Hunter OAK 0 57 | 105 23 0 0.219 0.434 0| 21-7 295 2.04 0.91 191
12 John Mayberry KCR 0 27 | 503 150 25 0.298 0.901 0|
13 Jim Palmer BAL 0 21 | 98 22 0 0.224 0.516 0| 21-10 274 2.07 1.05 184
14 Rod Carew MIN 0 16 | 535 170 0 0.318 0.748 12|
14 Bobby Grich BAL 0 16 | 460 128 12 0.278 0.773 13|

EDIT:Sorry about the formatting and thanks to BBRef.

In '72 Brinkman got a lot of ink for setting a record by fewest errors at a shortstop in a season as well as for a 72-game errorless streak, for a division-winning ballclub.

Sometimes that'll do it.

EDIT: I know his brother was a catcher with the White Sox, but I think maybe another one of them was an umpire...

Brinkman and Pete Rose were born in the same year in Cincinnati and I've read that in HS, Brinkmann was considered a much better prospect than Rose. I don't know where to confirm that though.

Also, Edie Brackell is the real deal. "What I Am"!

I've read that in HS, Brinkmann was considered a much better prospect than Rose. I don't know where to confirm that though.

here

There's two dual bios of Rose and Giamatti? I knew about the one by Kahn.

I'll bet Brinkman had a higher OPS+ than Lolich, Hunter, or Palmer. I never realized that Rudi ever finished 2nd in voting. I thought that he was underrated.

..."As a shortstop, he wasn’t what you would call smooth,” said Dan Ewald, who covered the Tigers for the Detroit News during Brinkman’s time with the club.

While Brinkman was no Belanger crabbing around SS (who was?)...I don't recall him not being "smooth".

From Zanger's '67 Book

...Brinkman has been turning fans' heads with his dazzling SS play...

At short, nobody makes the play in the hole any better than he does...

'68 ML Book.

But Ed's wide-range fielding and superb arm...

He's such a good fielder that the Nats are going to try and live with his light bat.

Must dig out Detroit era material now...

Thanks, jmac.

GGC, Brinkman's OPS barely surpassed Palmer's -- .538 to .516

One of the fine defensive players Bob Short foolishly traded away from Washington for Denny McLain. He probably would have moved the Senators anyway, just for greed's sake, but that horrid deal certainly made things easier for him.

I worked with someone from Michigan who recalled that after Detroit won the AL East in '72 by half a game over Boston (strike year, thus an uneven schedule), the Tigers were interviewed in the locker room and a delirious Ed Brinkman uttered one of the George Carlin seven on live TV. Can anyone confirm this?

He's such a good fielder that the Nats are going to try and live with his light bat.


Brinkman's BAs:

228,224,185, 229,188,187

then, with Teddy Ballgame as manager:
266, 262

then with Williams NOT as manager:
228, 203


coincidence?--probably; people sure talked about it at the time though

Terpnats, the obituary mentions the incident near the end, so it sounds like your recollection is accurate.

Two things I'll remember about Brinkman: he was a part of that monstrous McLain deal (which gave the Tigers a new left side of the infield, him and the original A-Rod) and he had an incredibly long neck. If you've ever seen Brinkman's 1972 Topps card, you'll know what I mean. He was the antithesis of Walt "No Neck" Williams.

Brinkman was the kind of guy who would have found it tough being an everyday shortstop in today's game, but he was a good fit for the sixties and seventies, when teams willingly gave up offense for defense at shortstop. He was terrific defensively, with good hands and a really strong arm.

Also, his brother is Chuck Brinkman, who was a backup catcher briefly for the White Sox in the early 70s. There's no relation to the umpire, Joe Brinkman.

When Brinkman played for the Senators, the team also featured Frank Howard. Brinkman is listed generously as a 170 pound six footer, and Howard was 6' 8" and 275 pounds. I remember a picture in the paper of Brinkman trying to push the normally mild mannered Howard away from an umpire during an argument. It was pretty comical.

To say the trade of Brinkman, Rodriguez, and Joe Coleman for one Denver McClain was unpopular in Washington is a vast understatement.

Losing Brinkman and Rodriguez was something that had to be done. The Senators' infield defense was second only to the Orioles' but they were offensive sinkholes (as was 2B Tim Cullen) and Brinkman and Rodriguez were tradable commodities. The thought was they could get better offense and acceptable defense out of some combination of in-house options Toby Harrah, Len Randle, and Dave Nelson; Rule 5er Joe Foy; and Don Wert and Elliott Maddox (they really did try him at 3B), acquired in the McLain deal. It didn't work out. Of the lot, only Nelson played well and he didn't get a shot at 3B until after Foy, Wert, and Maddox failed.

Joe Coleman was the piece that hurt.