Alva Burton Burris (January 28, 1874 – March 24, 1938)"Al Burris Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-29. was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, playing one game for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in 1894. He also served as a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at Washington College.

Biography

Burris was born in

Warwick, Maryland Warwick is an unincorporated community in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. Warwick is located along Maryland Route 282 east of Cecilton and just west of the Delaware border. St. Francis Xavier Church was listed on the National Register of ...

. He started attending Washington College in 1892 and also played on the baseball team there. By his junior year in 1894, he had become the college's athletic director, in addition to coach of the baseball team.Payne, Marty
"Al Burris"
''bioproj.sabr.org''. Retrieved 2010-12-29. Burris also played in Major League Baseball. After the college season ended, he appeared in one game for the Philadelphia Phillies as a pitcher, giving up 10 earned runs in five innings against the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

. He also had two hits that day and ended his MLB career with a batting average of .500. Burris continued to serve as coach and athletic director until 1906. During the offseasons, he coached and played (at every position on the field) for local semi-pro teams in Cambridge and Salisbury. He managed the Cambridge team to the Maryland-Delaware championship in 1908. Burris also studied medicine at around this time, and he eventually set up practices and a drug store after his initial managing days were over. In 1911, he returned to professional baseball and helped create the independent Peninsula League. He was the league's first president in 1915. Burris was also a minor league manager for one season, in 1924, when he took over the Salisbury Indians of the Eastern Shore League. In his later years, he concentrated on his medical practice while also teaching sports to the youth of the community. Burris suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

in 1938 and died in

Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...

, at the age of 64. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery. Burris was inducted into the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.Eastern Shore Baseball Foundation, Inc.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burris, Al 1874 births 1938 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Phillies players Minor league baseball managers Washington College Shoremen baseball players Baseball players from Maryland Physicians from Maryland People from Cecil County, Maryland 19th-century baseball players 20th-century American physicians