Aids Claims Baseball’s Burke, 42 He Battled Bias As Gay Player; Career, Not Woes, Ended In ‘82

Glenn Burke, a Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics outfielder who said he was blackballed from baseball for being gay, has died of AIDS-related complications. He was 42.

Burke died Tuesday night at a San Leandro hospital after being admitted Friday, said Pam Pitts, director of administration for the A’s.

Although Burke spent time in San Quentin prison and on the streets, he was cared for in his last months at his sister’s home and surrounded by family, Pitts said.

A career .237 hitter, Burke played at 215 pounds from 1976-79. He was down to 135 last fall, said Erik Sherman, who worked with Burke on an upcoming book on the player’s life.

A former Spokane Indian, Burke made his mark in baseball when he delivered what is believed to be the first high-five in sports during the Dodgers’ 1977 World Series season. But his promise in baseball was never fully realized given what Burke said were “prejudiced and homophobic” managers and club executives.

Burke’s homosexuality was known within baseball, although he did not come out publicly until 1982.

Billy Martin, then A’s manager, told him, “I don’t want no faggot on my team,” Burke said. The Dodgers had traded Burke to Oakland in 1978, after Burke turned down an offer of a free honeymoon if he would marry.

Out of baseball, Burke used cocaine heavily. He spent 17 months in San Quentin earlier in the 1990s on counts of false imprisonment, grand theft, possession of a controlled substance and parole violations.

ILLUSTRATION: Color photo