April 9, 1976 As the commissioner announced my name, Lutha was sitting right next to me, holding my hand as I got up to address the media on live TV. var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = 'https://www.baseball-almanac.com/css/print.css';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})(); Did you know that on October 2, 1977, Glenn Burke "invented" the "High 5" while greeting Dusty Baker at home plate, who just hit his 30th home run of the season? Described by many of the scouts as the next Willie Mays, Glenn Burke played major league ball with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1976-1978) and later with the Oakland Athletics (1978-1979). Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Are you a Stathead, too? Glenn Burke died 25 years ago. All rights reserved. Glenn Burke was born on Sunday, November 16, 1952, in Oakland, California. You can follow him on Twitter @billybeanball. He was actively always trying to be a great teammate and he had a great sense of humor. Harvard lacrosse player to teammates: ‘Guys, I’m gay’. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. Copyright © 2000-2020 Sports Reference LLC. Subscribe to our Free Newsletter, This Month in Sports ReferenceFind out when we add a feature or make a change. But when things didn’t feel right, he began understanding more about who he was. Before the game, your niece Alice Rose introduced me to almost 60 members of your extended family. I'm just basic people. The book celebrates your first “high five” to Dodger teammate Dusty Baker, providing a positive narrative for a young baseball player hoping your story will help him come out to his middle school classmates. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. We lived the same isolation and fears while playing a sport we love and doing so during a time that was much different and less accepting. New, 1 comment. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Exceeded rookie limits during 1977 season, More Glenn Burke Pages at Baseball Reference, A history of the Sports Reference Sponsorship System, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, October 17, 2:04AM. May 30, 1995 It was a wild, triumphant moment and a good omen as the Dodgers headed to the playoffs. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Because of you, I’ve had the good fortune to become friends with your amazing sister, Lutha Davis. For Pride, we’ve updated this letter with a new video by Billy Bean from Major League Baseball: I was thinking of you this week. Many thanks to him. Burke, waiting on deck, thrust his hand enthusiastically over his head to greet his friend at the plate. I can only imagine what it would have been like to listen to stories of baseball in the 1970’s, and how many mistakes your advice would have saved me from making. Baseball, quite frankly has a lot of deniability. Most importantly, I wish I could sit down with you and tell you all about the ways that baseball has changed for the better, and how we would have never arrived at where we are without you. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. Billy Bean is VP & Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. (Age 26-200d) It stopped me in my tracks. Glenn Burke, called the Jackie Robinson of gay rights (The Atlantic, Allen Barra, 05/02/2013, 'Actually, Jason Collins Isn't the First Openly Gay Man in a Major Pro Sport', Source) was the first Major League Baseball player known to have acknowledged his homosexuality to teammates and team owners during his professional career, the first to publicly acknowledge it, and the first baseball player inducted into the National Gay & Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame (Out Magazine, Matthew Breen, 06/18/2013, 'National Gay & Lesbian Sports Hall of Fames Inaugural Class Announced', Source). High School: Berkeley HS (Berkeley, CA), Schools: Merritt College (Oakland, CA), University of Nevada, Reno (Reno, NV), Debut: It broke my heart that you weren’t there to see it. Material things didn't matter to me. Jim Gilliam, a coach with the Dodgers when Burke was still a prospect), touted Burke as the next Willie Mays and Dusty Baker made a similar comment in The Milwaukee Sentinel (11/02/1994, 'Inner Strength, Inner Peace', Sports, Page 8), "He was built like a young Willie Mays. I know how much this moment would have meant to you. Then I watched the Oakland A’s donate $23,250 to AIDS Project East Bay in your name. Or write about sports? Glenn Burke played in his last MLB game just over three weeks prior to the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Jorik Hendrickx shares why coming out just days before the Olympics worked. I'm no better than nobody and never wanted to be. Burke left pro baseball, but he remained an active athlete. Lesbian cyclist Camille Balanche makes history. (Age 23-145d, Since that time, I’ve watched baseball transform itself into a leader for LGBTQ education and acceptance. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Last-Modified: February 1, 2018 10:05 AM EST, Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California. We present them here for purely educational purposes. vs. CLE 5 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, Rookie Status: All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. I played sports and mad made it and made a name for myself. He would have been real good if he had the opportunity. Balanche is the first out lesbian cyclist to win the UCI Downhill Mountain Biking World Championship. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Note, this is done in an automated way, so we apologize for any errors, & please. update=copyright.getFullYear(); Working at Major League Baseball makes it inevitable that you weave in and out of my thoughts. in Oakland, CA After representing Belgium in Sochi, Hendrickx shared his truth with the world days ahead of the 2018 Games. I was announced as MLB’s very first Ambassador for Inclusion, acceptance for all fans and professional sports, A gay college tennis captain is liberated after coming out to his team, For gay runner, trusting a coach with her secret started coming out process, ‘I’m gay’: College hockey player came out to two teams with a simple statement, Adam Rippon tells Russian skater who wished for his death where to shove his gold medal, How gay runners on Brown’s men’s track & field team helped lead fight for reinstatement, Out former soccer player Michael Martin wins seat on West Virginia school board. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Buried: Mountain View Cemetery, … November 16, 1952 Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. You're denying the fact you've played 142 games and you're physically and mentally tired and you have 20 games to go. Join our linker program. Do you have a blog? Find out more. You have a lot of denying when you're not seeing the ball. In my heart we are family, and I will continue to honor your memory in my fight for equality and acceptance for everyone. "His hand was up in the air, and he was arching way back," says Baker, "So I reached up and hit his hand. Here is an excerpt from "The history and mystery of the high five", Jon Mooallem, ESPN Films, July 29, 2011: It was the last day of the regular season, and Dodgers leftfielder Dusty Baker had just gone deep off the Astros' J.R. Richard. . But most importantly, I would want to say thank you. His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Glenn Burke baseball stats page.
Ben Askren Ufc Fights,
King Bach Net Worth Forbes,
Running Man Episodes,
Leave Me Alone In Arabic,
+ 18moreCheap EatsLakeside Chinese Takeaway, Sun Sun, And More,
Unterhaching Vs Ingolstadt,
Newcastle Weather Co,