1969 Topps #153 Ed Brinkman
About Ed Brinkman
Brinkman's lone 1969 card, #153, is a second-series issue reporting a broken-up 1968: .187 with no home runs and 6 RBI in just 77 games. He had enlisted in the National Guard and was called to duty after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and Washington had acquired Ron Hansen that February. Hansen held shortstop into the summer, long enough to turn the majors' first unassisted triple play in 41 years on July 30, before being dealt back to the White Sox on August 2.
Edwin Albert Brinkman grew up in Cincinnati and played at Western Hills High School alongside Pete Rose, and scouts of the day rated Brinkman the better prospect of the two. Courted by 17 clubs, he signed with the Washington Senators in May 1961 for a bonus reported as high as $75,000 spread over five years, the largest the young franchise had handed out, and debuted that September at age 19. A slick-fielding, light-hitting shortstop, he held the Washington job for most of the next decade until a four-for-four trade on October 9, 1970 sent him, Aurelio Rodriguez, Joe Coleman and Jim Hannan to Detroit for Denny McLain, Elliott Maddox, Don Wert and Norm McRae. In 1972 he made only seven errors in 156 games, set American League records with 72 straight errorless games and 331 consecutive chances handled cleanly, won his lone Gold Glove and was voted Tiger of the Year as Detroit took the AL East. His only All-Star selection came in 1973. He closed out in 1975 with the Cardinals, Rangers and Yankees at a .224 career average, then instructed, coached and scouted for Detroit and the White Sox, managing their Double-A Montgomery club in 1977 with Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker up the middle. He died in Cincinnati in 2008.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 202 | 2 | 26 | 103 | 52 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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.
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Related cards
More Washington Senators cards:
- #3 American League 1968 RBI Leaders
- #5 American League 1968 Home Run Leaders
- #27 Bernie Allen
- #48 Brant Alyea
- #84 Bob Humphreys
- #106 Jim Hannan
- #132 Dave Baldwin
- #170 Frank Howard
- #199 Jim French
- #226 Bruce Howard
- #246 Joe Coleman
- #272 Ed Stroud
- #294 Jim Lemon
- #319 Ken McMullen
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #153 card?
It is card #153 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Ed Brinkman of the Washington Senators.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, 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.