Glenn Burke

1952 - 1995

Baseball Player

A baseball manager said of Glenn Burke, "We'll never know how good he could have been." That's not the kind of thing we want people to say about us after we die.

If we believe the stereotypes, gay men aren't interested in sports, but Burke was. By all accounts, he was a fairly good player. (His batting average was .237.) His only meaningful contribution to the game, though, was the hand-up gesture he created in 1977 to celebrate a teammate's home run. According to Sports Illustrated, Burke invented the "high five."

An outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland A's from 1976 to 1979, many thought Burke had potential; some compared him to baseball legend Willie Mays.

Burke said he was traded by the Dodgers when manager Tom Lasorda found out he was gay. (Lasorda denies that.) Burke then left the A's when he became frustrated that manager Billy Martin wasn't treating him well either.

In 1980, he tried to return to baseball, but he got hurt and was demoted to the minor leagues. So he quit.

He was never officially "out" while playing professional baseball, but he said in interviews that everyone knew he was gay -- he even lived on San Francisco's predominately gay Castro Street. He participated in a gay baseball league after leaving the majors and gained some success, but in 1987 a car accident shattered his leg and what was left of his ball career.

Burke degenerated after leaving the game. He abused drugs and was arrested for possession in 1991. He served his prison sentence in San Quentin.

In 1995, at age 42, his once athletic body withered and died. AIDS had .ended another life.

A combination of discrimination and a lack of discipline ended the career of a ballplayer. You can choose for yourself whether difficulties will end your hope and your life. Illness took Burke's life, but apparently his hope had gone long before.