Timothy Phillip Burke (born February 19, 1959) is a retired Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for the Montreal Expos, New York Mets, and New York Yankees. He batted and threw right-handed. Between 1987 and 1988, he briefly had the lowest career earned run average for a relief pitcher, and his career earned run average of 2.72 is lower than all Hall of Famer relief pitchers except for Mariano Rivera and Hoyt Wilhelm.

Career

Drafted by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in round two of the 1980 MLB draft, Burke was traded to the Yankees on December 22, 1982, and then after a year in New York's minor league system, was dealt to the Expos for outfielder

Pat Rooney Patrick Eugene Rooney (born November 28, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball player. Rooney played for the Montreal Expos in . He batted and threw right-handed. Career He was drafted by the Expos in the 20th round of the 1978 amateur draft ...

on December 20, 1983. Although he was primarily a starting pitcher over his four minor league seasons, he made his major league debut with the Expos on April 8, 1985, in relief. In an eight-season career, he posted a 49–33 record with a 2.72 ERA and 102 saves in 498

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although except ...

, all but two out of the bullpen. He led the National League in appearances in 1985, with 78. He was selected to the National League All-star team in 1989.

Personal

Along with his wife, Christine, Burke adopted two orphan children from Korea, one from Vietnam, and one from

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

with the assistance of

International Children Services International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

. A

born-again Christian Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sepa ...

, he retired from baseball in 1993 in order to help raise his four adopted children. In 1994 he authored the book ''Major League Dad: The Moving Story of an All-Star Pitcher Who Gave up Baseball for His Family.'' In 1995, Burke appeared in the

Geoff Moore & the Distance Geoff Moore (born February 22, 1961) is an American contemporary Christian music singer. He began recording as a solo artist in 1984. In 1987, he formed Geoff Moore and The Distance, his touring band, which released eight albums generating a st ...

music video for the song "Home Run". Burke currently resides in Littleton, Colorado.

References

External links

1959 births Living people Alexandria Dukes players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Nebraska Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Columbus Clippers players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Montreal Expos players Nashville Sounds players National League All-Stars Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball players New York Mets players New York Yankees players Sportspeople from Omaha, Nebraska {{US-baseball-pitcher-1950s-stub