Morgan Burkhart (born January 29, 1972) is a former

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

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), ...

who played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

(–) and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

(). He was a

switch hitter In baseball, a switch hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed, usually right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers. Characteristics Right-handed batters generally hit better aga ...

and threw left-handed. He is currently the batting practice and hitting instructor for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

. Burkhart graduated from

Hazelwood West High School Hazelwood West High School is a public high school in the Hazelwood School District located in North St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. History Hazelwood West High School began in 1974, with the first graduating class in 1975. Due to ...

Hazelwood, Missouri Hazelwood is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, within Greater St. Louis. It is a second-ring northern suburb of St. Louis. Based on the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 25,485. It is located north of St. Louis-Lam ...

. Listed at , 225 pounds, Burkhart was never able to fulfill the potential that he showed in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

. He started his professional career in as 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 ...

/1B with the

Richmond Roosters The Richmond Roosters were a professional baseball team based in Richmond, Indiana from 1995-2005. The Roosters played in the independent Frontier League, which at that time had no affiliation with Major League Baseball. The Roosters began play ...

of the independent

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

. His numbers were significant, considering that during his time the league only had an 80-game schedule. In four seasons of Frontier ball, Burkhart hit .353 (393-for-1113), averaging 21.5

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 76.5 RBI in each season. He won three league

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

awards, was selected to the All-Star Game four times, and won the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

in , hitting .404 with 36 home runs and 98 RBIs in 80 games, being honored by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' as the 1998 Independent Player of the Year. He was dubbed by

Peter Gammons Peter Gammons (born April 9, 1945) is an American sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted ...

as the "Babe Ruth of the Frontier League." Burkhart was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1998, playing for three different minor league levels before joining the Red Sox in June . In his rookie season, he hit .288 with four home runs and 18 RBIs in 25 appearances, playing mostly as a backup for Brian Daubach. After the season, he made history in the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule run ...

while playing for the Navojoa Mayos, when he homered from both sides of the plate in one game against

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding ''municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of ...

. In 102 games, he hit .340 with 18 home runs and a .591

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

, including a 19-game hitting streak to start the season, and led the league with 55 RBIs and a .461

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

. ''Baseball America'' named him the Winter Player of the Year. From 1999 to 2000, he also was named the league MVP and a two-time All-Star. Burkhart started with Triple-A Pawtucket, hitting .269 with 25 home runs and 65 RBIs in 120 games before rejoining the Red Sox late in the season. He spent 2002 with the

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

of the Japan's

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

, and played for the Kansas City Royals in for his last major league season. In a 42-game Major League career, Burkhart posted a .248 batting average (30-for-121) with five home runs and 23 RBI, including a solid .366

. After a brief stint in Triple-A with the

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

, Burkhart went to the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

with the Saraperos team based in

Saltillo Saltillo () is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. Mexico City, Monterrey, and Saltillo are all connected by a major railroad and highwa ...

. He led the league in runs (100), walks (95) and OBP (.517), while hitting .365 (7th in the league) with 24 home runs (2nd), 91 RBIs (2nd), and a .658

. In 2005, he finished with a .304 average, 26 home runs, 72 RBI, 91 runs, 84 walks, a .466 OBP and a .583 SPC. The following season, he was sent by Saltillo to the Piratas (

Campeche Campeche (; yua, Kaampech ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by ...

) in exchange for Tom Evans. Burkhart hit over 250 career home runs in total as a professional baseball player. After his playing career ended he managed the

Calgary Vipers The Calgary Vipers were a professional baseball team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They were part of the Western Division of the independent North American League. The Vipers played all of their home games at Foothills Stadium. Previously, ...

from 2009–2011 before becoming the manager of the

Windy City Thunderbolts The Windy City ThunderBolts are a professional baseball team based in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood, Illinois, in the United States. The ThunderBolts are a member of the Frontier League, which is a partner league of Major League Baseball. Sinc ...

for the 2012 season. He spent the next five seasons in the

organization, the last two of which at Triple-A El Paso. While with the

Fort Wayne TinCaps The Fort Wayne TinCaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and play their home games at Parkview Field. They won their lone Midwest Le ...

in the San Diego system, he coached

Trea Turner Trea Vance Turner (born June 30, 1993) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers. Turner pla ...

, who was initially drafted by the Padres before being sent in a trade to the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. In an unusual situation, Turner was forced to remain in the San Diego system even after the trade had been agreed to, because Major League Baseball rules do not allow a player to be traded within a year of being drafted. As such, Turner was listed as a "player to be named later", although it was public knowledge that the player in question was in fact Turner. Turner's agent, Jeff Berry, told the media that it was an unfair process to force him to play half the season for a team that traded him and had no further interest in promoting his development, and said he would be filing a grievance through the players' union. Looking back years later, Turner had nothing but praise for the Padres, particularly noting the time he remained while everyone waited for the trade to become official. Turner specifically mentioned Burkhart by name. "Even after I got traded, the staff I had, Morgan Burkhart, those guys worked with me and helped me as much as anybody. I remember not feeling like I was on the outside, even though I was being traded. I appreciated that. That’s something I’ll never forget.”

References

External links

Boston GlobeSports IllustratedTrenton Thunder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkhart, Morgan Baseball players from St. Louis Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball designated hitters Boston Red Sox players Kansas City Royals players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players Mayos de Navojoa players Richmond Roosters players Sarasota Red Sox players Trenton Thunder players Pawtucket Red Sox players Omaha Royals players Charlotte Knights players 1972 births Living people Central Missouri Mules baseball players Minor league baseball coaches Baseball coaches from Missouri San Diego Padres coaches