1969 Topps #241 Jim Brewer
About Jim Brewer
Series 3 of the 1969 set carries Brewer at #241, a year after the Dodgers handed him the bullpen. Los Angeles traded right-hander Phil Regan just after Opening Day in 1968, and at 30 Brewer became the arm they went to with the game on the line: 8-3 with a 2.48 ERA and 14 saves in 54 games, 75 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings, and a win or a save in each of his last 11 appearances. Nobody called it closing yet, and Alston did not use him that way - he leaned on a left-right pair and picked whoever fit the inning.
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 | 248 | 8 | 54 | 137 | 37 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 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 Los Angeles Dodgers cards:
- #12 National League 1968 Strikeout Leaders
- #24 Walt Alston
- #47 Paul Popovich
- #65 Willie Davis
- #94 Hank Aguirre
- #122 Ron Fairly
- #139 Andy Kosco
- #140 Jim Lefebvre
- #161 John Purdin
- #216 Don Sutton
- #266 Dodgers 1969 Rookie Stars
- #289 Bart Shirley
- #310 Tom Haller
- #327 Willie Crawford
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #241 card?
It is card #241 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Brewer of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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.