[1] Birkbeck's professional career was plagued by injury played for the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, and the Yokohama BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball.

It was with Yokohama that Birkbeck suffered a broken fibula on a comebacker from Shane Mack which effectively ended his career.

[1] In six MLB seasons, Birkbeck had a 12–19 win–loss record, 54 games pitched (51 started), two complete games, 270+1⁄3 innings pitched, 319 hits allowed, 158 runs allowed, 146 earned runs allowed, 27 home runs allowed, 93 walks allowed, 149 strikeouts, four hit batters, eight wild pitches, 1,196 batters faced, four intentional walks, 12 balks and a 4.86 ERA.

In 2012, he was named the ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year.

This biographical article relating to an American baseball pitcher born in the 1960s is a stub.