Glenn Lawrence Burke (November 16, 1952 – May 30, 1995) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976 to 1979.

[8][9] In August 2013, Burke was among the first class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.

He was voted onto the all-tournament team at the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and received a Northern California MVP award.

The Los Angeles Dodgers recruited Burke to start playing in its minor league system in 1971.

According to his 1995 autobiography Out at Home, Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis offered to pay for a lavish honeymoon if Burke agreed to marry.

"[17] The Dodgers eventually traded Burke to the Oakland Athletics for Billy North, claiming that they needed an experienced player who "could contribute right away".

[14] The trade was unpopular with Dodgers players, with teammate Davey Lopes remarking, "He was the life of the team, on the buses, in the clubhouse, everywhere.

[8][20][21][22] In his four seasons and 225 games in the majors playing for the Dodgers and Athletics, Burke had 523 at-bats, batted .237 with two home runs, 38 RBIs and 35 stolen bases.

He told People magazine in 1994 that his "mission as a gay ballplayer was to break a stereotype" and that he thought "it worked.

[29] An article published in Inside Sports magazine in 1982 made Burke's homosexuality public knowledge.

Although he remained active in amateur competitions, Burke turned to drugs to fill the void in his life when his career ended.

He was arrested and jailed for drugs and lived on the streets of San Francisco for a number of years, often in the same neighborhood that once embraced him.

When news of his battle with AIDS became public knowledge in 1994, the Oakland Athletics organization helped to support him financially.

[18] In interviews given while he was fighting AIDS, he expressed little in the way of grudges, and only one big regret – that he never had the opportunity to pursue a second professional sports career in basketball.

[32] On August 2, 2013, Burke was among the first class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.