Tom Burr (baseball)

Alexander Thomson Burr (November 1, 1893 – October 12, 1918) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in one inning of one game for the 1914 New York Yankees and was later killed in a military aviation training accident while serving with the U.S. Army Air Service in France during World War I.

He self-financed his trip to France where he volunteered as an ambulance driver before joining the aviation corps.

[1] He was killed shortly before the war ended in an airplane accident on October 12, 1918, while serving in the United States Army Air Service in Cazaux, France.

After colliding with a fellow pilot, Burr's plane crashed into a lake in flames; his body was recovered after 12 days.

[6] Burr was one of eight Major League Baseball players known either to have been killed or died from illness while serving in the armed forces during World War I.

Tom Burr photograph from 1918 newspaper article on his death (Burr on right)