finalyear death_date death_place bats birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date article_title debutteam name throws
1952 02 july 1998 cape girardeau , missouri right cape girardeau , missouri 1952 may 5 .955 17 shortstop chicago cubs earned run average assists april 18 20 october 1926 leon brinkopf
 chicago cubs leon brinkopf right
leon brinkopf

leon clarence brinkopf -lrb- october 20 , 1926 -- july 2 , 1998 -rrb- was a right-handed shortstop in major league baseball for the chicago cubs in 1952 .
brinkopf was originally signed by the st. louis browns in 1944 but found himself released a year later .
he made his way to the chicago cubs ' farm system after they acquired him from his independent minor league team in dallas , texas in exchange for former cub big-leaguer roy easterwood .
brinkopf debuted with the cubs on april 18 , 1952 and appeared in a total of nine games , including his final big-league contest on may 5 .
the sum of his major league baseball experience was four hits -lrb- all singles -rrb- in 22 at-bats -lrb- a .182 batting average -rrb- , 2 rbi and a run scored .
brinkopf died on july 2 , 1998 in his birthplace of cape girardeau , missouri .
