1968 Topps #298 Jim Brewer
About Jim Brewer
Card #298 comes from the fourth series of the 1968 set, and the 1967 line on its back is the proof that the elbow surgery had held: 5-4, a 2.68 ERA and a career-high 100 2/3 innings over 30 games, with 74 strikeouts. Alston gave him 11 starts that year, the last 11 of his career, and he was sharper still in the other 19 outings, a 1.88 ERA out of the bullpen. The club went the other way, dropping to eighth in the ten-team National League the season after Sandy Koufax was forced to retire.
Jim Brewer was a left-handed pitcher who spent 17 major league seasons (1960-1976) with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and California Angels after the Cubs signed him out of Broken Arrow High School in Oklahoma in 1956. His rookie year ended in violence: on August 4, 1960, Cincinnati's Billy Martin flung his bat toward the mound after a brushback pitch, walked out to retrieve it, then turned and punched Brewer, breaking the orbital bone under his right eye and finishing his season. Brewer sued, and after two trials a Chicago jury awarded him $10,000 in 1969. Traded into the Dodgers' organization in December 1963, he picked up a screwball grip from Braves great Warren Spahn in 1964 and turned it into one of the National League's best relief weapons. He helped Los Angeles to three pennants and the 1965 World Series title, and from 1968 through 1973 averaged roughly 20 saves a year, making the 1973 All-Star team at age 35. Brewer retired with 69 wins, more than 130 saves and a 3.07 ERA in 584 games, then spent three seasons as the Montreal Expos' pitching coach and later taught the screwball to Dodgers prospects. He was killed in a 1987 car crash in Texas, driving through a thunderstorm on his way to a pitching clinic.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 345 | 21 | 106 | 144 | 43 | 16 | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 20 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
Team card: #168 Los Angeles Dodgers
More Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #9 National League 1967 Pitching Leaders
- #15 Ron Hunt
- #34 Al Ferrara
- #65 John Roseboro
- #88 Phil Regan
- #103 Don Sutton
- #124 Nate Oliver
- #145 Don Drysdale
- #208 Willie Davis
- #228 Dodgers 1968 Rookie Stars
- #249 Bill Singer
- #266 Paul Popovich
- #281 Jim Campanis
- #315 Zoilo Versalles
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #298 card?
It is card #298 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Brewer of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-12.