What happened? I don't know what happened. He could have been an outstanding basketball or baseball player. 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. 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. 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 was a highly scouted star in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system before being called up to the major league club.Īs a gay man, Burke's association with the Dodgers was difficult.
Toward the beginning of his career, an assistant coach described him as the next Willie Mays. The Los Angeles Dodgers recruited Burke to start playing in its minor league system in 1971. He then enrolled in Merritt College and played on its baseball team. īurke was awarded a scholarship to the University of Denver in 1970, but after a few months there he returned home to Oakland. Burke was named Northern California's High School Basketball Player of the Year in 1970. He was voted onto the all-tournament team at the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and received a Northern California MVP award. Burke could dunk a basketball with both hands, a rare feat for anyone under 6 feet tall.
He was the first MLB player to come out as gay to teammates and team owners during his professional career and the first to publicly acknowledge it, 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." 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.
Glenn Lawrence Burke (Novem– May 30, 1995) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976 to 1979. April 9, 1976, for the Los Angeles Dodgers