Leo Patrick Burke (born May 6, 1934 in
Hagerstown, Maryland) is a retired
American utility player in
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), ...
. The graduate of
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...
played two full seasons and parts of five others in MLB as a
rightfielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...
,
second baseman and
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
for 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 ...
,
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...
,
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
and
Chicago Cubs (1958–59; 1961–65). He threw and batted
right-handed
In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...
, stood and weighed .
Burke was involved in a
waiver deal between the Cardinals and Cubs on June 24, 1963, when he was sent to Chicago for
relief pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...
Barney Schultz
George Warren "Barney" Schultz (August 15, 1926 – September 6, 2015) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He was a knuckleball-throwing pitcher in the Major Leagues for all or parts of seven seasons between 1955 and 1965 for ...
,
who would play a major role in the Cardinals'
1964 pennant-winning season. Burke played 98 of his 165 MLB
games in a Cub uniform.
During his Major League career, Burke
batted .239 with 72
hits, nine
home runs and 45
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
.
References
Sources
1934 births
Living people
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from Maryland
Chicago Cubs players
Dallas Rangers players
Knoxville Smokies players
Los Angeles Angels players
Major League Baseball right fielders
Miami Marlins (IL) players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Salt Lake City Bees players
San Antonio Missions players
Sportspeople from Hagerstown, Maryland
Virginia Tech Hokies baseball players
Virginia Tech Hokies football players
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