1937
Born November 14, 1937
Merced, CA, USA
Jim Brewer Marquee
b. November 14, 1937 · Chicago Cubs 1960–1963, Los Angeles Dodgers 1964–1975, California Angels 1975–1976
In August 1960, pitching for the Cubs, he threw inside to Billy Martin, who charged the mound and broke his jaw in two places with a punch. Brewer sued for a million dollars and eventually collected a judgment of ten thousand; Martin's reported reply about the payment schedule is the part people repeat.
Los Angeles got him in 1964 and taught him a screwball, and he saved 14 or more games in six consecutive seasons with earned run averages of 1.26, 1.88, 2.48 and the like. Seventeen seasons gave him 132 saves, 69 wins and a 3.07 earned run average across 1,040 innings.
He pitched in three World Series for the Dodgers and was an All-Star in 1973. He died in a car crash in Oklahoma in November 1987, two days after his fiftieth birthday. The 1982 ballot gave him two votes of 415.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 1 | 1973 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | CHC | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .167 |
| 1961 | CHC | 36 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 | .182 |
| 1962 | CHC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1963 | CHC | 29 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .000 |
| 1964 | LAD | 34 | 22 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 0 | .273 |
| 1965 | LAD | 20 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
| 1966 | LAD | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1967 | LAD | 30 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | .045 |
| 1968 | LAD | 54 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .222 |
| 1969 | LAD | 59 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .091 |
| 1970 | LAD | 58 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | .083 |
| 1971 | LAD | 55 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .333 |
| 1972 | LAD | 51 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 1973 | LAD | 56 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .400 |
| 1974 | LAD | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1975 | CAL/LAD | 42 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 1976 | CAL | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Career | — | 586 | 140 | 2 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 52 | 1 | .150 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | CHC | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 21.2 | 25 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 5.82 |
| 1961 | CHC | 1 | 7 | 36 | 11 | 0 | 86.2 | 116 | 56 | 21 | 57 | 5.82 |
| 1962 | CHC | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5.2 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 9.53 |
| 1963 | CHC | 3 | 2 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 49.2 | 59 | 27 | 15 | 35 | 4.89 |
| 1964 | LAD | 4 | 3 | 34 | 5 | 1 | 93.0 | 79 | 31 | 25 | 63 | 3.00 |
| 1965 | LAD | 3 | 2 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 49.1 | 33 | 10 | 28 | 31 | 1.82 |
| 1966 | LAD | 0 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 22.0 | 17 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 3.68 |
| 1967 | LAD | 5 | 4 | 30 | 11 | 1 | 100.2 | 78 | 30 | 31 | 74 | 2.68 |
| 1968 | LAD | 8 | 3 | 54 | 0 | 14 | 76.1 | 59 | 21 | 33 | 75 | 2.48 |
| 1969 | LAD | 7 | 6 | 59 | 0 | 20 | 88.1 | 71 | 25 | 41 | 92 | 2.55 |
| 1970 | LAD | 7 | 6 | 58 | 0 | 24 | 89.0 | 66 | 31 | 33 | 91 | 3.13 |
| 1971 | LAD | 6 | 5 | 55 | 0 | 22 | 81.1 | 55 | 17 | 24 | 66 | 1.88 |
| 1972 | LAD | 8 | 7 | 51 | 0 | 17 | 78.1 | 41 | 11 | 25 | 69 | 1.26 |
| 1973 | LAD | 6 | 8 | 56 | 0 | 20 | 71.2 | 58 | 24 | 25 | 56 | 3.01 |
| 1974 | LAD | 4 | 4 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 39.1 | 29 | 11 | 10 | 26 | 2.52 |
| 1975 | CAL/LAD | 4 | 1 | 42 | 0 | 7 | 67.2 | 82 | 26 | 23 | 43 | 3.46 |
| 1976 | CAL | 3 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 20.0 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 2.70 |
| Career | — | 69 | 65 | 584 | 35 | 132 | 1040.2 | 898 | 355 | 360 | 810 | 3.07 |
On this day & linked events
1987
Died November 16, 1987
1960
Major-league debut: Jim Brewer
Jim Brewer made a major-league debut on July 17, 1960.
1976
Final major-league game: Jim Brewer
Jim Brewer played a final major-league game on May 24, 1976.
Image: Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0