Get to Know Glenn Burke, Major League Baseball’s First Out Gay Player

Glenn Burke was a rising star on the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team of the mid-1970s. Well-liked by fans and teammates and often compared to a young Willie Mays, the energetic young Black man from Oakland, California, appeared to have a bright future both with the Dodgers and in Major League Baseball.

Unknown to many in the public at least, was the fact that Glenn Burke was also gay. In fact, Burke is now generally regarded as the first out player in Major League Baseball, at least to his teammates, coaches, and the press. He came out publicly post-retirement in a 1982 story that appeared in Inside Sports.

But sadly, baseball wasn’t entirely ready for an out baseball player.

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Burke was drafted by the Dodgers while still in college and made his first major league at-bat for the team in 1976. He started two games in the 1977 National League Championship Series and also started Game 1 of that year’s World Series for the Dodgers. He’s even credited with developing the famed “high five” hand slap following a home run by teammate Dusty Baker.

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While Burke was a favorite with both his teammates and his fans, Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda had little use for a Black gay major league baseball player, especially one with a burgeoning relationship with Lasorda’s gay son. There were even rumors Burke and the younger Lasorda were sexually involved.

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The Dodgers front office was equally disapproving of Burke’s sexual identity, fearing the potential scandal of an out player. Burke claimed in his autobiography, Out at Home: The True Story of Glenn Burke, Baseball’s First Openly Gay Player, the organization offered him $75,000 to get married, to which he claimed he (quite naturally) responded, “To a woman?” Burke was traded to the Oakland A’s not long after, leaving fans and teammates upset to the point of tears for some.

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The A’s team of this period was terrible, managed by the aging and washed-up Billy Martin. Burked gained little playing time and faced open hostility from Martin who called him a “f*gg*t” and worse in front of his teammates in the locker room. A knee injury sent him down to the minor leagues and out of professional baseball entirely a short time later.

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His later years saw him embracing his sexuality in San Francisco’s Castro District, where he was a popular presence in the local bars as well as on their competitive softball leagues. He won gold at the original Gay Games (then the Gay Olympics), but serious injuries resulting from getting hit by a car led to a downward spiral of drug abuse, jail, and homelessness. He passed away from AIDS-related complications in 1995 at the age of 42.

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Last season, the Oakland A’s renamed its annual Pride Night celebrations after Burke.

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“Glenn Burke was a trailblazer, and we are excited and honored to recognize his legacy and impact on the game of baseball by naming our annual Pride Night after him,” Dave Kaval, president of the A’s, said in a statement at the time. “Glenn Burke Pride Night will continue to be a time of celebration and inclusion at our ballpark as we come together with friends and allies.”

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Glenn Burke left his mark on the world. His trademark high-five hand slap is used in celebrations across the globe, but he also made an impact on the lives of those who met him. And he is truly a pioneer for LGBTQ+ inclusion and affirmation in professional sports.

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