“You could say that Glenn Burke, the first Major League Baseball player to come out, is having a good season.
In March, bestselling author Andrew Maraniss published a thoughtful biography called “Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke.” And on June 11, 2021, the Oakland A’s renamed their annual LGBTQ appreciation event the Glenn Burke Pride Night.
Unfortunately, Burke isn’t here to enjoy the acclaim. He died from complications of AIDS on May 30, 1995, when he was 42. He played four seasons of professional baseball between 1976 and 1979, hitting .237 and stealing 35 bases, before homophobia ended his career…”