He attended Oregon State University, where, along with baseball, he played for the school's football team as the kicker.

As a non-roster invitee in the Mariners' camp during spring training 2007, he beat out incumbent René Rivera for the backup catcher job going into Opening Day.

On September 30, 2007, on the last day of the regular season, Burke hit his first career home run against A. J. Murray of the Texas Rangers.

[2] He was re-signed by the Mariners to a minor league contract on December 23,[3] saying this about the situation, The best gift would have been a major-league deal, but I'm pretty happy about this.

When Johjima returned from the disabled list on May 1, Burke was outrighted back to Tacoma; after clearing waivers, he accepted the assignment.

But after injuries to starter Iván Rodríguez and backup catcher Carlos Maldonado, he was called up[8] on June 4, and got into his first game two days later.