I think that Brinkman is getting credit for something that he had nothing to do with re: the articles stating that he out-foxed Billy Martin. Tim McClelland, who had the plate that day, made the "out" call after talking it over with Brinkman. That call was later over-ruled by Lee McPhail, who ordered a do-over. At that time, most of the AL umpires were pissed at McPhail because he really didn't have the rules back-up to allow the KC protest. The story later came out that someone in the Yankee hierarchy that didn't like Martin leaked to the AL office that Martin was gonna appeal a missed base on Brett's homer. That's why the AL office got an affadavit from Brinkman and his crew stating that no bases were missed. The crew chief on the do-over, Davey Philipps, was given the affadavit and was told exactly what was gonna happen. Philipps was the one that showed Martin the affadavit. Iow, Brinkman was hardly involved in this one at all.
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hi...003/030624.htm
Btw, Davey Philipps and Durwood Merrill both talked about this play in their biographies, which are both great reads.