Tigers’ shortstop set record in 1972

Ed Brinkman, 66, the quintessential “good field, no hit” major league shortstop who set a record in 1972 with 72 consecutive errorless games for the Detroit Tigers, died Tuesday in his hometown of Cincinnati, according to the Chicago White Sox. No cause of death was given, although friends said he had a heart ailment.

Brinkman won a Gold Glove Award in 1972 and was named to the American League all-star team in 1973, when he played shortstop in all 162 games. He finished his 15-year major league career with a batting average of .224 and a fielding percentage of .970.

He went to the Tigers after the 1970 season, when the Washington Senators sent him and several other players to Detroit for Denny McLain, the Tigers’ pitching ace who had won 31 games in 1968, and others.

Brinkman began with the Washington Senators in 1961. After 10 seasons with the Senators and four with the Tigers, he played briefly for the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers before retiring in 1975.

The White Sox hired him as an infield coach in 1983. He stayed with the team as a scout until 2000.

Edwin Albert Brinkman was born Dec. 8, 1941. He was a high school pitcher on a team whose second baseman was Pete Rose.

Brinkman missed much of the 1968 season while serving in the Army National Guard. A week after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Brinkman was stationed in the left-field seats on opening day in Washington.