Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9506020106
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
Glenn Burke, a former major-league outfielder and the game's only openly gay player, died Tuesday of complications from AIDS. He was 42.
Burke had been in and out of Bay area hospitals for more than a year. He died at Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro after a brief stay.
``He was so strong, but he just went down to nothing,'' said his mother, Alice Burke of Oakland. ``He suffered so much.''
Burke played four years in the major leagues, 21/2 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the final 11/2 years with the Oakland A's. He played in 225 big-league games, hitting .237.
``Glenn was a charismatic figure,'' said Bill Meyer, a minor-league teammate and friend. ``He did things to make you think you didn't like him sometimes, but then you always came back to liking him. He was kind of a Muhammad Ali type - you didn't want to get into any verbal jousting with him, that's for sure.
``He's probably the second-best athlete I've ever been around, and the first was Dave Winfield.''
Said Giants manager Dusty Baker, who played for the Dodgers: ``All of us in LA, we always took care of the young guys. And Glenn was one of the best-liked of the young guys.''
However, Burke's legacy is not found on the playing field. He expressed his homosexuality publicly in a 1982 article in Inside Sports magazine, joining a short list of openly gay athletes. The article appeared after Burke's career ended, but his sexual preference was widely known in baseball during his career.
It was Burke's view that his homosexuality earned him a spot on baseball's blacklist.
The Dodgers traded Burke, a promising prospect, to the A's in 1977, but only after they suggested he could further his career by getting married.
``Somewhere along the line, somebody must have followed me, because I was pretty careful,'' Burke said in 1986. ``My sex is private. I don't flaunt it. You know how jocks are, they don't want anybody gay around.''
Burke became a hero of sorts in the Castro District, the Bay area's gay community, where his homosexuality was known long before he came out publicly. A huge party was held in his honor at his favorite bar, The Pendulum, after he played for the Dodgers in the 1977 National League Championship Series.
After he contracted HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, Burke's life spun out of control. He did time in prison and often was destitute and homeless, spending his time panhandling on the same streets where he once was revered.
``He went off the deep end with drugs,'' Alice Burke said last year. ``He resorted to that. I don't know why. Glenn has a large family that loves him very much.''
The A's assisted Burke in his final years, and a fund was established for him by San Francisco General Hospital after a magazine article brought Burke's story to light in July 1994.
Burke was a two-sport star at Berkeley High School and played basketball at the University of Nevada-Reno. He was known for his fiery nature on the field and a devotion to weightlifting not common for his era.
``We called him `The Bad Boy,''' Meyer said. ``He would fight in a heartbeat - his teammates or the other guys - and not too many guys wanted to take him on. I remember we got sent down to Class A ball together one year, and I told him, `Glenn, I'm not fighting anymore; I've had enough. You fight all you want, but I'm tired of seeing guys get their teeth knocked out.'
``I was just thinking about him the other day. I kept thinking, `Man, he must be strong the way he keeps hanging on.' It's a sad story. There's a million of them out there, but it doesn't hit you until you come face to face with it.''
by CNB