Eddie Burke

In the mid-1890s, left fielder Eddie Burke of the New York Giants was a sensation. At New York’s Polo Grounds, adoring fans packed a section beside left field dubbed Burkeville and cheered for their idol:

“Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!”1
“Yer all there, Eddie.”
“Youse is th’ boy to learn ’em how to play.”
“Burkeville is yer side pardner for good, Eddie.”2

Excelling as a fielder, hitter, and base stealer, Burke gave fans much to cheer about. He batted .280 over eight major-league seasons from 1890 to 1897; per 162 games, he averaged 142 runs and 56 stolen bases. One of his contemporaries, Brooklyn outfielder Mike Griffin, said Burke was the fastest man he had ever seen.3 But Burke was also combative and hot-tempered, and an alcoholic.

He was of German ancestry, born and raised in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, a transportation hub (for canal and railroad) about 50 miles north of Harrisburg. His birthdate is given as October 6, 1866, in baseball records, but this may be incorrect; the 1870 US census indicates that he was six years old in July 1870. He had two older brothers, Samuel and William, and an older sister, Clara. His parents were Edward Burk Sr., a common laborer, and Emeline (née Haupt) Burk.

Eddie Burke, the ballplayer, was also known as Edward Burk Jr. and Edward D. Burke. When asked what the middle initial “D” stood for, he said, “I don’t know what it stands for. My father uses it and I’ve always done so.”4

Research has revealed little about Burke’s early years. He played amateur baseball in Northumberland. In 1886 he played professionally for three teams in the Pennsylvania State Association, primarily as a catcher. He played initially for Lewiston, and when that club disbanded, he joined Danville. When Danville too disbanded, he was signed to a contract by Scranton.

Scranton did not need him right away, and so he played for a semipro team in Sunbury, about two miles from his Northumberland home. He played his first game for Scranton on August 17, 1886,5 and, deciding he didn’t like it, returned home to play for Sunbury.

Heavy-handed representatives of the Scranton club threatened to have him arrested for breach of contract if he did not return to Scranton. To bolster the threat, one of them brandished a firearm.6 It was further reported that this gunman, with revolver drawn, chased Burke through the streets and alleys of Sunbury.7 The speedy Burke eluded him, boarded a train to Scranton, and played for Scranton for the remainder of the season.

In a home game on October 14, 1886, Scranton tied the visiting New York Giants of the National League, 8-8, in a seven-inning exhibition. Tim Keefe, a future Hall of Famer, pitched for the Giants. In the just-completed NL season, he had achieved a 42-20 record and surrendered only nine home runs in 535 innings pitched. But on this day, Scranton hit two home runs off him: one by Dasher Troy and the other a three-run shot by Burke over the left-field fence.8

Record books indicate that Burke batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He measured 5-feet-6 and 161 pounds; newspaper reports often described him as “little.” Yet as noted in 1896, “for a small man [he] can hit the ball very hard.”9

For Scranton in 1887, Burke was a handy utilityman – an infielder, outfielder, and catcher. The team began the season in the Pennsylvania State Association and moved to the higher-tier International Association in early June.10

On June 24, 1887, in a 6-4 victory over Toronto at Scranton, Burke filled the box score with three singles, a double, and a triple; three stolen bases; four runs scored; and four putouts and an assist in left field. The Scranton Republican said, “his batting, base running and fielding” were “the best ever seen on the home ground.”11

Off the field, Burke enjoyed nights on the town. For being out late, he was fined $50 by the Scranton club (about $1,750 in 2026 dollars); in protest, he sulked and refused to play.12 The club then suspended him for about three weeks.

In 1888 Burke played for Toronto in the International Association and was primarily an outfielder. Though he batted only .237, he led the league with 107 stolen bases. The following season, as Toronto’s everyday center fielder, he batted .315 and led the International League with 97 stolen bases. There was no question that he was a speed demon, but he had also become a fine hitter.

During a game at Hamilton, Ontario, on July 27, 1889, Burke was harassed by some boys in the crowd and angrily flung his bat in their direction.13 It hit a fence and did no harm, but Burke received a scathing rebuke from the Hamilton Spectator: “Burke, of the Torontos, is a good ball player; but he is an unmitigated tough, and ought to be sent back to the coal mines where ladies and gentlemen could not see his exhibitions of temper.”14

Burke and two companions found themselves in hot water after they fought with railroad employees aboard a train on Thanksgiving in 1889.15 The trio were arrested and made bail, but later skipped bail and became fugitives from the law.16 It went unreported how Burke’s case was adjudicated. He continued his baseball career with the 1890 Philadelphia Phillies of the National League.

The Phillies defeated the New York Giants on Opening Day, April 19, 1890, as Burke made his major-league debut. He played in center field and got his first major-league hit, a single, off pitcher Amos Rusie, a future Hall of Famer.17 In the Phillies’ 11-2 rout of Pittsburgh on June 20, 1890, Burke hit his first major-league home run. That home run, and Burke’s next two (on June 24 and July 16), were served up by a rookie pitcher, Kirtley Baker.

Burke was traded to Pittsburgh in August 1890. He had played well for the Phillies; it was his “habits more than any other thing [that] led the Philadelphia management to dispose of him.”18

Pittsburgh lost three games at Brooklyn on September 1 in the first tripleheader in major-league history; Burke played in center field, batted leadoff, and got one hit in each game.19 At Canton, Ohio, on September 18, in Pittsburgh’s 11-10 loss to Cleveland, Burke homered off another rookie pitcher, Cy Young.20

Burke was sold in the offseason to the Milwaukee Brewers of the Western Association.21 Milwaukee manager Charlie Cushman had managed him in Toronto. In the Brewers’ 20-5 romp over the Kansas City Blues on May 10, 1891, Burke hit three doubles and stole four bases.22

In August 1891, the Brewers took the place of the disbanded Cincinnati franchise in the major-league American Association. After the season, Burke was assigned to the Cincinnati Reds of the National League for the 1892 season. He appeared in only 15 of the Reds’ first 50 games before he was released in June 1892. He disliked the bench role he was given; performed poorly at the plate (6-for-41 for a .146 average); and made matters worse by engaging in a drunken brawl on May 4 with teammate Billy Rhines.23

Buck Ewing, captain of the New York Giants, recognized Burke’s talent and moved quickly to sign him to a contract.24 For the rest of the 1892 season, Burke played regularly for the Giants, at second base and in left field. He committed many errors at second (55 in 59 games), and by 1893 he was strictly a left fielder. On September 29, 1892, Burke engaged in another drunken brawl, this time with Giants teammate Jack Doyle.25

In Manhattan on June 2, 1893, Burke married Elizabeth Dinan, the teenage daughter of Irish immigrants, and that year she gave birth to a daughter, Edna.26 For the fifth-place Giants in 1893, Burke batted .279; ranked fourth in the league with 54 stolen bases; and hit a career-high nine home runs. In 1894 he batted .307 for the second-place Giants. His assignment in left field, the “sun field” at the Polo Grounds, was a tough one, yet he ably caught fly balls looking into the glare. Meanwhile, the denizens of Burkeville cheered him on.

In the Giants’ 16-8 victory at Washington on August 7, 1894, Burke hit three doubles and a single, and made nine putouts in left field.27 He “darts in and out and under the pesky things that sail aerially,” reported the New York World.28 Two weeks later at the Polo Grounds, his triple and grand slam were pivotal in edging Cap Anson’s Chicago Colts, 13-11; “the inhabitants of Burkeville went crazy with delight.”29 In the postseason Temple Cup series, the Giants swept the first-place Baltimore Orioles, four games to none. Burke batted .389 (7-for-18) in the series.30

Jack Doyle became manager of the Giants in June 1895 and was anxious to jettison Burke, his adversary.31 First, Burke was “fined $100 and suspended for intoxication.”32 Then in July, he was released to the Cincinnati Reds. Buck Ewing, by then manager of the Reds, was keen to have him.33 “Burke will prove a great acquisition to the Cincinnatis,” said Amos Rusie of the Giants. “Eddie is one of the best outfielders in the league.”34

Doyle may have sought to hurt Burke by separating him from his loyal fans in New York. But a new Burkeville quickly emerged at Cincinnati’s League Park. “He has the left bleachers with him to a man,” reported the Cincinnati Enquirer.35 And when he visited the Polo Grounds with the Reds on August 28, 1895, the Burkeville faithful “turned out in great force to see” him and “raised a tremendous howl of welcome.”36

“I’ll never take another drink,” said Burke in March 1896. “I have not touched a drop in five months, and I now realize how much better off I am without it.” I will “put in my nights at home [with my family].”37 His sobriety paid off: In 1896 he led the third-place Reds with career highs in hits (177) and batting average (.340).

The Reds defeated the Orioles, 5-0, in Cincinnati on July 16, 1896, and Burke’s daring baserunning was a highlight. Sportswriter Ren Mulford, Jr. described the moment:

“Burke had no license … to move on to third after he had pilfered second in the fifth. The ball had rolled a few feet away from the bag, but Eddie took the chance and the sight of Burkeville’s hero churning away toward third seemed to paralyze [second baseman] Henry Reitz. … [Reitz] finally recovered the ball, but the Red Leg had circled the last canvas and was still pegging away toward the plate, when Reitz fired the elusive sphere toward catcher William] Clark [sic], but his aim was wild and Burke’s run was made in safety. Thousands jumped to their feet, thunderously celebrating the success of one of the nerviest sprints ever witnessed at League Park.”38

Burke “was so full of aggressiveness and life that he won an immense following.”39 And he proved to be “as great a favorite in Cincinnati as when he was Mayor of Burkeville” in New York.40

In 1897, in the Reds’ 6-3 loss to Cleveland on July 31, Burke hit two singles and a double off Cy Young.41 But he fell into a batting slump and went 2-for-42 (.048) after August 15.42 His batting average dropped from .340 in 1896 to .266 in 1897. He played his final major-league game on September 19, 1897.

Alcohol surely contributed to his decline. He and his wife had two more children, sons Edward and Wilfred, born in 1897 and 1898.43 It was reported that he abandoned his family in 1898, leaving them destitute.44 At the time of the 1900 US census, his wife and three children resided with her relatives in Manhattan.

Burke played for the St. Paul Saints of the Western League in 1898 and 1899. And during the winter of 1898-99, he worked as a bartender in St. Paul.45 In the spring of 1900, he played briefly in the American League (the year before it became a major league). Buck Ewing had returned to the New York Giants as manager and invited Burke to join his team.46 But Burke opted to go west and play for Butte in the Montana State League. Perhaps he was running away, knowing he could be arrested in New York for abandoning his family.47

On June 2, 1900, less than 10 minutes into Burke’s first game with the Butte Smoke Eaters, he was “fined $5 for bad language” and ejected.48 Ten days later, in an 8-6 victory over Helena, he went 5-for-5 at the plate, stole three bases, and scored four runs.49 Records show that he batted .291 in 59 games for the Smoke Eaters.50

Burke played briefly for Spokane in the Pacific Northwest League in May 1901 and then dropped out of sight. His whereabouts were unknown until he died at the General Hospital in Utica, New York, on November 26, 1907. The cause of death was tuberculosis.

For four or five years, Burke had lived quietly in Utica and worked in local restaurants. “He was reticent to the point of being mysterious and never talked about himself,” said the Utica Press.51 He was interred in Utica’s St. Agnes Cemetery.

Acknowledgements

This story was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.

Sources

Ancestry.com and Baseball-Reference.com, accessed August 2026.

Image: Circa 1893 portrait of Eddie Burke in a New York Giants uniform.

Notes

1 “Giants’ Eyes on the Ball,” New York World, May 1, 1895: 1.

2 “Their Own Eddie Burke,” New York Sun, August 29, 1895: 7. The cost of admission to Burkeville was 25 cents, about $10 in 2026 dollars.

3 Harvey A. Bensberg, “Eddie Burke’s Death,” Sporting Life, December 14, 1907: 6.

4 “‘Bug’ Holliday’s Latest,” Buffalo Enquirer, April 2, 1896: 8.

5 “In the State League,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Leader, August 18, 1886: 1.

6 “After Burk,” Northumberland County Democrat (Sunbury, Pennsylvania), August 27, 1886: 1.

7 “A Fleeing Ball Player,” Wilkes-Barre Leader, August 29, 1886: 8.

8 “A Good Exhibition,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Republican, October 15, 1886: 3.

9 “Ready for the Word Go,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 5, 1896: 2.

10 “The First International,” Scranton Republican, June 8, 1887: 5.

11 “A Good Game,” Scranton Republican, June 25, 1887: 5.

12 “Base Ball Business,” Scranton Republican, August 12, 1887: 3.

13 “The Hams Prove Too Much for Toronto,” Buffalo Courier, July 28, 1889: 3.

14 As reported in “Around the Bases,” Rochester (New York) Post Express, August 1, 1889: 8. It is unknown whether Burke ever worked in a coal mine.

15 “Fight on the Train,” Northumberland County Democrat, December 6, 1889: 1.

16 The Miltonian (Milton, Pennsylvania), December 13, 1889: 3.

17 “National League Games,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 20, 1890: 6.

18 “Base Ball Mention,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Record, September 1, 1890: 6.

19 “They Break All Records,” Pittsburgh Post, September 2, 1890: 6.

20 “The Alleghenys Lose at Canton,” Pittsburgh Post, September 19, 1890: 6.

21 “Toronto Players for Milwaukee,” Buffalo Courier, February 19, 1891: 8.

22 “Brewers Getting There,” Milwaukee Journal, May 11, 1891: 2.

23 “Disgraced,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 6, 1892: 3.

24 “Sporting,” Cincinnati Post, June 25, 1892: 6.

25 “Burke Pounded by Doyle,” New York Herald, October 4, 1892: 11.

26 1900 US census.

27 “New York’s Easy Victory,” New York Sun, August 8, 1894: 4.

28 “Baseball Chat,” New York World, August 8, 1894: 6.

29 “Fortune Favors New-York,” New York Tribune, August 22, 1894: 3.

30 “Record of the Series,” New York Sun, October 9, 1894: 5.

31 “Baseball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 25, 1895: 2; “Personal,” Sporting Life, July 27, 1895: 11.

32 “‘Giants’ Vs. ‘Grooms,’” Brooklyn Citizen, June 29, 1895: 3.

33 “Eddie Burke Is Wanted by Captain Ewing for the Outfield,” Cincinnati Post, May 29, 1895: 1.

34 “Baseball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 25, 1895: 2.

35 “Baseball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 8, 1895: 2.

36 “Their Own Eddie Burke,” New York Sun, August 29, 1895: 7.

37 “They’re Off!” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 16, 1896: 2.

38 Ren Mulford, Jr., as reported in “Britons in a Ball Game,” Washington Times, July 22, 1896: 3.

39 “Eddie Burke, Former Base Ball Star Dead,” Sunbury (Pennsylvania) American, November 29, 1907: 1.

40 “Notes of the Game,” New York World, May 14, 1897: 8.

41 “Old Cy,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 1, 1897: 2.

42 Retrosheet.org, accessed August 2026.

43 1900 US census.

44 “Heartless Eddie Burke,” Illustrated Buffalo Express, September 11, 1898: 18; “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, January 29, 1898: 2.

45 C.F. Holden, “St. Paul Siftings,” Sporting Life, February 11, 1899: 9.

46 “Phenom Lee Fooled Buffalo,” Buffalo Courier, May 26, 1900: 9.

47 “Runaway Husbands and the Law,” New York Times, September 22, 1901: Magazine, 14.

48 “Burke Is Thrown Out,” Anaconda (Montana) Standard, June 3, 1900: 11.

49 “Helena Not So Warm,” Butte (Montana) Miner, June 13, 1900: 2.

50 Reach’s Official Base Ball Guide for 1901 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1901), 145.

51 “Eddie Burke Passes Away,” Utica (New York) Press, November 27, 1907: 3.