Robert Britt Burns (born June 8, 1959) is a former

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), ...

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 ...

from 1978 until 1985, pitching for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

compiling a career mark of 70 wins and 60 losses with a 3.66

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. Burns pitched for Fultondale High School in 1975, before transferring to

Huffman High School Huffman High School (HHS) is a four-year public high school in Birmingham, Alabama. It is the largest of seven high schools in the Birmingham City School System and is a magnet school open to students from across the district. School colors are gr ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

from 1976 to 1977. He played for legendary prep coach Phil English at Huffman. he had a variety of pitches, but what made him so effective was the ability to change speeds on various types of pitches. When he graduated, he held the state record for career victories with 35 against only 2 losses (a record that stood for over 12 years), and as of 2008, still holds the single season record for lowest earned run average after posting a 0.00 in 1977.His career high school ERA was 0.12AHSAA Baseball Records
, retrieved on April 03, 2008 He was discovered by

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

book critic Bob Cromie while pitching in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

in 1978. He made his debut later that season at the age of 19. Burns did not become as full-time major leaguer until 1980 when he won 15 games. In 1983 he helped the White Sox into the ALCS 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) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

, pitching 9 innings before surrendering a home run to

Tito Landrum Terry Lee Landrum (born October 25, 1954) is a former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) primarily as an outfielder from 1980 to 1988. Biography Landrum was born in Joplin, Missouri. He graduated from Highlan ...

in the fourth and final game of the series. After winning 18 games for Chicago in 1985, Burns was traded on December 12 with Glen Braxton and Mike Soper to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

for

Ron Hassey Ronald William Hassey (born February 27, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Cleveland Indians (1978–1984), Chicago Cubs (1984), New York Yankees (1985–1986 ...

and

Joe Cowley Joe Cowley is a columnist writer for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. Cowley, a graduate of Kent State University, served the same role for the ''Sun-Times'' sister publication, the Tinley Park, Illinois, Tinley Park, Illinois ''Daily Southtown'', for ...

. A chronic, degenerative hip condition, however, put Burns' career on hold before he could ever pitch for New York. After years of rehab, he attempted a comeback in 1990, making four unsuccessful minor-league starts before finally retiring as a player. Burns was the minor league pitching coordinator for his hometown Houston Astros until 2010 and was the pitching coach for the Birmingham Barons, the White Sox AA affiliate, through 2015.

References

External links

Where have you gone, Britt Burns?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Britt American League All-Stars Chicago White Sox players Major League Baseball pitchers 1959 births Living people Knoxville Sox players Appleton Foxes players Iowa Oaks players Denver Zephyrs players Columbus Clippers players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Minor league baseball coaches Baseball coaches from Alabama Baseball coaches from Texas Baseball players from Birmingham, Alabama Baseball players from Houston