Happy Pride Month : The Life and Times of Glenn Burke

 

I don’t remember where I first head the name Glenn Burke.

            It wasn’t because of the high five. A little back story for those who don’t know: Glenn Burke invented the high five…with a little bit of help from his Dodgers teammate, Dusty Baker, of course. Yes, a gay man in America invented the high five in October of 1977, congratulating his teammate Dusty Baker as he returned to home plate after hitting his 30^th home run of the season. The fourth player on the Dodgers to do so that year. Eleven teams have done so since.

            But I don’t know Glenn Burke from there.

            

            ....Not the actual first high five...but Glenn and Dusty all the same...

            Sure, we high fived when we played sports. What red-blooded, American kid didn’t. But we didn’t discuss the high five. Didn’t seek out its origins. Never questioned its place in sports celebrations other than, well, that’s just what you do. We certainly had no clue that the high five was invented by Glenn Burke. The first man in Major League Baseball to come out to teammates and team owners as openly gay. A strong, proud, volatile, wildly talented man who played Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976 to 1979, until his open lifestyle subsequently got him run out of the game that he loved…almost as much as Glenn loved basketball.

            Happy Pride Month Folks!

            But I still don’t know where I first heard the name Glenn Burke. I don’t remember him being mentioned when outfielder Billy Bean (not the Moneyball guy) came out in 1999. Nor do I remember Major League Baseball honoring Glenn Burke during the 2014 All-Star game. I know that I heard about him long before I read Andrew Maraniss’ excellent new biography on him, entitled Singled Out. But I just can’t remember where.

            But it doesn’t matter.

            What matter is that Glenn Burke DID exist in Major League Baseball. That he’s a part of that history. Once called the next Willie Mays, Glenn Burke managed to play in 225 games in the Big Leagues, before the rampant homophobia drove him away from the sport. What matters is that Glenn Burke strove to be himself, openly and happily, in a sports world that accentuated the macho, the manly; in a sport that never could comprehend or understand that a gay man could play baseball at the top of his game just like anyone else.

            What matters is that we lived in a society then (and probably still do now) that worked to systematically try and take that pride and spirit of competition away from Glenn Burke.

            I don’t know where I first heard about Glenn Burke. But the point is, I did. And I’m happy to know about Glenn Burke. From his upbringing in Oakland to his feats on the basketball court to his time in Major League Baseball. Glenn was what us baseball card folks would’ve called a top prospect back in the day. He had the tools and he had the talent to be a perennial All-Star had homophobia not got in the way.

            And what was that homophobia? It was the Dodgers GM Al Campanis offering to pay for Glenn’s honeymoon if he’d only get married. To which Glenn responded, To a woman? It was legendary Dodger’s manager, Tommy Lasorda, being uncomfortable with Glenn’s relationship with his son, Tommy Jr, a man who’s own sad and tragic tale deserves some space in a book. It was the Dodgers organization, despite the protests of players on the team who had no issue with Glenn’s sexual orientation, claiming that Burke just “wasn’t happy here,” before trading him to the Oakland A’s for Billy North. It was A’s players refusing to shower with Glenn after games. It was legendary manager, Billy Martin, referring to Glenn Burke as a fag in front of whoever he wanted.

            It was a knee injury before the 1980 season.

            It was being sent down to Utah.

            It was the A’s releasing Glenn Burke from his contract.

            Glenn Burke’s life after baseball had its ups…and then it’s tragic spiral down. He found life in San Francisco after his baseball days ended, primarily in the Castro District. Glenn played competitive softball for years in the San Francisco Gay Softball League. He won medals in running in the 1982 Gay Games then did so in basketball in 1986. Glenn Burke’s number was retired by his high school. Inside Sports even did an article on Glenn Burke in 1982, making his coming out official to everyone outside of professional baseball.

            But Glenn Burke was driven out of baseball. He had no skills other than that of an athlete. Jobs and money were hard to come by. Glenn soon went threw his baseball savings. He wound up in a mentally abusive relationship. As so often happens in America, to quell the pain associated with not being accepted in society, of not being able to express feelings and love in the way American society deemed acceptable, Glenn Burke began to turn further and further to drugs. First cocaine. Then crack. In 1987, a car accident crushed his legs, and Glenn Burke’s life went into further decline. He went to jail for drugs. He lived on the streets. Glenn Burke, like so many gay young men in the 1980s and 1990s, contracted HIV, which turned into AIDS.

            Which the U.S. government didn’t care about.

            Which Ronald Regan failed to acknowledge until 1985.

            And then only in passing.

            Glenn Burke died of AIDS on May 30, 1995.

            A year in which 4.7 new HIV cases were estimated throughout the world.

            I don’t remember where I first heard the name Glenn Burke. But it was like I always knew it. And when Andrew Maraniss’ book on Glenn was schedule to come out, I was excited to see that someone was finally telling his story. And I wanted Glenn’s cards in my collection. He only has two that I know about. His 1978 Topps card, considered his rookie, and a 1979 Topps card of Glenn Burke with the A’s.

            I’m honored to have both of his cards in my collection.

            As for Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke by Andrew Maraniss, I couldn’t have been happier as a reader. Because I write I don’t like to review books. It’s a policy that I have not to pass judgement on something that I know takes a lot of time, love, research, attention, and a dash of blood, sweat and tears. What I will say is that if you want the story of Glenn Burke, read Andrew’s book. He does an excellent job of putting Glenn on the page, so that he’s a living, breathing, complex human being.

Maraniss also does a fantastic job of placing Glenn’s life and his situation in baseball in context with the times that he was living in. Not only are we told of Glenn Burke’s journey, but we spend time with a few other gay trailblazers along the way. Readers also get to experience San Francisco during the beginning years of the AIDS crisis, a time when the Castro went from the gay epicenter to a ghost town full of sick men. A time when the U.S. government seemed openly content to let a generation of beautiful men die from a disease that they were both scared of, and thought of as a just retribution for those men simply not conforming to the hetero-normative life they were expected to live.

89, 343 people died of AIDS or AIDS related complications during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Remember:

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        Thanks for reading! Happy collecting!

         If you’d like to know more about the life and career of Glenn Burke. I would suggest picking up Andrew Maraniss’ book Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke which you can find HERE or HERE, or at any major book retailer. And if you shop indie…ask your clerks for it.

You can learn more about Glenn Burke HERE and HERE

***Shameless self-promotion No. 1***

I too have a few new books out there. The first is my new collection of poetry entitled Eating a Cheeseburger During the End Times. It’s out on Kung Fu Treachery Press and I’m pretty proud of this one. If you’re interested you can find it HERE and HERE.

***Shameless self-promotion No. 2***

I also have a new novel out. The book is entitled P-Town: Forever and is about five members of a failed singing group getting back together in their 40s after a single they recorded 20 years ago becomes a sudden semi-hit. If you’re interested you can find it HERE and you can find it HERE, where you can also read the first chapter.

...Or you can reach out to me on here.

NEXT FRIDAY:  We're going to take a look at 1988 Donruss. Why the set was everywhere and is ubiquitous with the Junk Wax Era...and why I still love it. I'll probably wrapt it up with some story about my youth but I haven't figured out which...yet.