Glenn Burke was the first openly gay player in Major League Baseball and the co-inventor of the high five. In this powerful picture-book biography, author Phil Bildner tells us that Burke was a “five-tool talent.” He could run, hit, hit hard, catch, and throw. After he was drafted into the Los Angeles Dodgers, his antics and energy delighted both teammates and fans.
Most of his teammates knew or suspected he was gay, Bildner writes, but they didn’t care. Team manager Tommy LaSorda did care, however. And the team’s general manager offered Burke a pay raise if he, the only unmarried player on the team, would marry a woman. Readers also learn that most gay people couldn’t live openly in the 1970s, and might be bullied, fired, or attacked. Burke therefore tried to keep his identity a secret from the public.
He made a mark on history in another way, though. He held up his hand for his teammate Dusty Baker to slap after Baker helped the team to a record, thus making the first-ever high five.
After a record season that took the team to the World Series, however, Burke was traded to the Oakland Athletics, one of the worst teams in the league. Burke and his teammates knew why. Burke was rejected by his new teammates—and eventually left professional baseball.
His high-five became copied by athletes and others around the world, though, and Burke found acceptance in San Francisco’s Gay Softball League. Nevertheless, the years of hiding who he was “had taken a toll,” as they would have “on almost anyone,” Bildner says. Burke had difficulties holding a job, and “got into trouble with drugs and the law.” He was hit by a car, an accident that shattered his leg and ended any hope of him playing baseball again. He then tested positive for AIDS, and “died of AIDS” in 1995, at 42 years old. His legacy lives on in the greeting we still use, and in giving us an example of living “openly and free.”
Bildner, author of the middle-grade novel A High Five for Glenn Burke and many other books with sports themes, knows how to write action, and his punchy sentences give verve to Burke’s on-field play. Elsewhere, he offers an unflinching but age-appropriate look at Burke’s triumphs and struggles. (My only quibble is that most style guides reject the phrase “died of AIDS,” preferring “died of an AIDS-related illness” or “of complications of AIDS.”)
Illustrator Daniel J. O’Brien’s bold images are a fitting complement to the text. I particularly like the final image, of the rainbow-bedecked 2022 Glenn Burke Pride Night at Dodger Stadium, showing rather than telling us a little more about Burke’s legacy.
Backmatter includes an Author’s Note, Selected Bibliography, and a Timeline.
A compelling biography that touches on some tough topics with age-appropriate thoughtfulness while celebrating the life of a changemaker.
