Major League Playing Career
He played with the Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, and New York Yankees during his fifteen year playing career. Ed Brinkman led the American League in games played twice, won a Gold Glove Award at shortstop, and had a career batting average of .224.
Brinkman was part of an eight-player trade in 1971, which sent Brinkman, third baseman Aurelio RodrÃguez and pitchers Joe Coleman and Jim Hannan from the Washington Senators to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Denny McLain, Don Wert, Elliott Maddox, and Norm McRae.
In 1972, he won the "Tiger of the Year" award from the Detroit baseball writers, and finished 9th in American League MVP voting despite a .205 batting average. Brinkman earned the votes for his defensive prowess. Brinkman was awarded the Gold Glove in 1972 with a fielding percentage of .990 (23 points above the .967 league average for shortstops). In 1972, Brinkman also had 233 putouts and 495 assists in 156 games at shortstop. On August 5, 1972, Brinkman's error ended his record streak of 72 games and 331 total chances without a miscue.
He has the record for the number of seasons (seven) with more than 400 at-bats, fewer than 15 home runs, and a batting average lower than .230. Since 1930 only one player with 5000+ at-bats has a lower average. Brinkman's batting average would have been even worse if it were not for Ted Williams. Brinkman hit .266 and .262 in 1969 and 1970 while playing for Washington Senators teams managed by Williams. Excluding those two seasons, Brinkman's lifetime average was .214. He committed a then-record low seven errors in 156 games for the division-winning Tigers in 1972. Even with a .203 average, Brinkman was hailed as one of the team's most valuable players, and he won a Gold Glove that season. Brinkman holds the American League record for the fewest hits in a season while playing a minimum of 150 games, with 82 hits in 1965.
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