Ernest Burke, pitcher in Negro Leagues Dies....

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<< <i>Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004

Ernest Burke, pitcher in Negro Leagues and in Canada, dies of kidney cancer


BALTIMORE (CP) - Ernest Burke, a pitcher and outfielder for the Baltimore Elite Giants in the Negro Leagues who also played in Quebec, died Saturday of kidney cancer complications at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 79.

Burke's parents died when he was a boy and, from the age of nine, he was raised by a family in Iberville, Que.

After being one of the first black U.S. Marines to serve in the Second World War, Burke played professionally for four seasons for the Elite Giants. He then played for two years with St-Jean of the Canadian Provincial League, where he had a .308 batting average during one of his two seasons there.

The Elite Giants were not allowed to play at the old Baltimore Stadium where white teams played. Instead, the Giants played at Bugle Field.

After leaving baseball, Burke was a heavy-equipment operator at the Henry J. Knott Construction Co. for 30 years until he retired in the early 1980s. He then became a tennis instructor.

He supplemented his pension by attending trading card shows, where he signed autographs and sold Negro Leagues paraphernalia.

"We never had any trainers to teach us how to slide or pitch," Burke would tell fans. "Each team was like a family.

"We would help and correct each other if needed. That's what made us so good. We could move mountains."

Besides his wife of four years, the former Sandra Dolan, survivors include three daughters, Valerie Hester of Stafford, Va., Janice Covington of Chicago, Rosalyn Burke of Washington, and five grandchildren.



© The Canadian Press, 2004 >>