First gay mlb player

For one thing, Burke was the first Major League Baseball MLB player ever to be out as gay with his teammates, managers and team executives.

PLAYER Nasdaq CTA Global

Burke, who was pinch hitting and happened to be waiting on deck, met Baker at the plate with his hand stretched high over his head. Burke also befriended Tommy Lasorda Jr. Burke had retired from MLB byand in he officially came out in an article for Inside Sports.

Glenn Lawrence Burke (November 16, – May 30, ) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from to He was the first MLB player to come out as gay, announcing it in after he retired. There have been three gay Major League Baseball players in league history and 11 who played in the minors, including one woman.

Before he left baseball, Burke had time to leave his mark — not for his batting average, home runs, or spectacular plays in the outfield, but for his celebrations. While many of his teammates loved him, having to endure listening to slurs and battling preconceived notions about gay athletes was eventually too much.

He soon appeared on the Today Show with Bryant Gumble as well. It seemed first the thing to do. Burke had been an incredible athlete as a youngster — as a basketball player, he was the Northern California Basketball Player of the Year, leading his Berkeley High School squad to a perfect record and a state championship in his senior year.

A first baseman for the Helena Brewers, rhe Milwaukee Brewers' rookie affiliate team in Montana, David Denson in became the first player affiliated with Major League Baseball to come out as gay. In the 6th inning, downDusty Baker came up to the plate.

He blasted a home run out to center field for his 30th home run of the season. [1] Though he would eventually embrace his sexuality publicly, rumors and mistreatment due to speculation eventually proved to be. But when Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker rose up for an impromptu, improvised high five after Baker crushed his 30th home run of the season in October of at Dodger Stadium, it set the high five in stone forever.

Burke claimed that general manager Al Campanis offered him a sizable bribe to participate in a sham marriage. The Dodgers drafted him mlband he played in their minor league system until he got called up to the major league club in Once he was with the Dodgers, he did not specifically try to keep his sexuality a secret.

Part of that was being the first up to congratulate his teammates after a big moment. The climate has shifted; public opinion has shifted. And so it was that the high five was cemented in baseball lore, and has been passed down through auckland gay neighborhood generations to the present day.

And yet we still have so much farther to go. Amazingly, immediately after this, Burke stepped up to the plate and hit a home run himself. He was out to the people closest to him, and spoke openly with teammates, executives and even sportswriters about it.

It was the first home run of his major league career, and one of only two he hit before he retired. However, Burke is gay rare professional athlete who lived a life that was about much more than his on-field player in sports. An outfielder for the L.

Purely as a baseball player, Burke was considered an impressive athlete who never quite put it all together to become truly great.