Glenn Burke

Glenn Lawrence Burke (November 16, 1952 – May 30, 1995) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976 to 1979.

Burke was an accomplished high school basketball star, leading the Berkeley High School Yellow Jackets to an undefeated season and the 1970 Northern California championships.

Burke could dunk a basketball with both hands, a rare feat for anyone under 6 feet tall.

He was voted onto the all-tournament team at the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and received a Northern California MVP award.

Burke was named Northern California's High School Basketball Player of the Year in 1970.

Burke was awarded a scholarship to the University of Denver in 1970, but after a few months there he returned home to Oakland.

He then enrolled in Merritt College and played on its baseball team.

The Los Angeles Dodgers recruited Burke to start playing in its minor league system in 1971.

Toward the beginning of his career, an assistant coach described him as the next Willie Mays.

Burke was a highly scouted star in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system before being called up to the major league club.

As a gay man, Burke's association with the Dodgers was difficult.

In October 1977, Burke ran onto the field to congratulate his Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker after Baker hit his 30th home run; Burke raised his hand over his head and Baker slapped it.

They are widely credited with inventing the high five.

Burke kept active in sports after retiring from baseball.

On October 2, 1977, Burke ran onto the field to congratulate his Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker after Baker hit his 30th home run in the last game of the regular season.

In Oakland, Burke received little playing time in the 1978 and 1979 seasons.

Burke suffered discrimination from both other players, with some teammates avoiding showering with Burke, and from the Athletics' management.

Burke said, "By 1978 I think everybody knew," and he was "sure his teammates didn't care."

Former Dodgers team captain Davey Lopes said, "No one cared about his lifestyle."

Burke told The New York Times, "Prejudice drove me out of baseball sooner than I should have. But I wasn't changing."

He wrote in his autobiography that "prejudice just won out."

Burke left professional sports at the age of 27.

In 1980, during spring training, Burke suffered a knee injury.

Billy Martin used this injury as an opportunity to consign Burke to a minor league team in Utah for the remainder of the season, ending his contract before the season ended.

In his four seasons and 225 games in the majors playing for the Dodgers and Athletics, Burke had 523 at-bats, batted .237 with two home runs, 38 RBIs and 35 stolen bases.

He was the first MLB player to come out as gay, announcing it in 1982 after he retired.

Though he would eventually embrace his sexuality publicly, rumors and mistreatment due to speculation eventually proved to be an emotional, psychological, and professional burden he could no longer endure; leading to his retirement from Major League Baseball after only four years.

stating, "They can't ever say now that a gay man can't play in the majors, because I'm a gay man and I made it."

He competed in the 1982 Gay Olympics, now re-named Gay Games, in track, and in 1986 in basketball.

He played for many years in the San Francisco Gay Softball League.

He told People magazine in 1994 that his "mission as a gay ballplayer was to break a stereotype" and that he thought "it worked."

He died from AIDS-related causes in 1995.

According to his 1995 autobiography Out at Home, Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis offered to pay for a lavish honeymoon if Burke agreed to marry.

Burke refused to do so, and is said to have responded "to a woman?"

He also angered Dodgers' manager Tommy Lasorda by befriending the manager's gay son, Tommy Lasorda, Jr. Lasorda has disputed that but says he does not understand Burke's behavior at the time: "Why wouldn't he come out? Why keep that inside? Glenn had a lot of talent. He could have been an outstanding basketball or baseball player. He sure was good in the clubhouse. What happened? I don't know what happened. He just wasn't happy here?"

The Dodgers eventually traded Burke to the Oakland Athletics for Billy North, claiming that they needed an experienced player who "could contribute right away".

The trade was unpopular with Dodgers players, with teammate Davey Lopes remarking, "He was the life of the team, on the buses, in the clubhouse, everywhere."

In the 2010 documentary Out: The Glenn Burke Story, Claudell Washington related how newly installed 1980 manager Billy Martin introduced Burke to the new teammates on the team by stating "Oh, by the way, this is Glenn Burke and he's a faggot."

In August 2013, Burke was among the first class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.

Burke was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2015.