Ray Burris

Bertram Ray Burris (born August 22, 1950) is an American former pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB), and the current rehabilitation pitching coordinator in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

The son of sharecroppers, Burris spent up to fifteen hours a day working the fields with his family through high school.

[1] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Recreational Leadership at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, in addition to playing basketball and baseball.

He made his major league debut in the third game of the season against the Montreal Expos, and pitched 3.1 innings of scoreless ball.

He pitched five innings of shutout ball to defeat Jon Matlack and the New York Mets.

[11] On July 18, he suffered a complete game loss to the San Diego Padres when Cubs shortstop Mick Kelleher's ninth inning error led to an unearned run.

[14] He followed that up with back-to-back shutouts of the Expos[15] and Phillies[16] to give him a stretch of 28 innings pitched without an earned run.

His fifteen wins, 3.11 ERA, four shutouts and ten complete games all led the Cubs staff.

Facing Tom Seaver and the New York Mets, Burris had a 2–0 lead when he took the mound in the sixth inning.

Burris then intentional walked Dave Kingman to hand the ball to Bruce Sutter with one out and the bases loaded.

Looking to solidify his role in the Mets' starting rotation, Burris showed up for Spring training early in 1980.

[25] On May 2, a throwing error by Mets catcher John Stearns led to an unearned run for the San Diego Padres, who went on to win, 1–0.

Burris ended up with a no decision despite holding Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" to just three hits over seven innings.

[28] The World Series-champion Pirates had moved into first place in the National League East by the time he faced them in his next start.

During the off season, Burris signed as a free agent with the Expos, and the bad luck that had plagued him in New York continued in Montreal.

In his final start of the first half of the strike-shortened season, he lost a complete game effort to the Reds, 2–0.

He made his lone start in game 3 of the 1981 National League Division Series against the Phillies, and was losing 2–1 when he exited in the fifth inning with one out, and runners on first and second.

Bill Lee allowed both inherited runners to score, giving Burris four earned runs in 5.1 innings for the loss.

Rogers served up a home run to Rick Monday to allow the Dodgers to advance to the 1981 World Series.

[39] On June 21, he pitched three innings of one hit ball against the Mets to earn his second career save.

After beginning the 1983 season in the bullpen, Burris pitched well enough (2.45 ERA) through seventeen appearances to get a shot at starting again.

Following the season, the A's sent Burris, along with a minor leaguer and a player to be named later, to the Milwaukee Brewers for Don Sutton.

The Brewers released Burris toward the end of spring training in 1986, after which he signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals.

Additionally, in his first at bat in over two years, Burris connected for a bases loaded double to give the Cards a 3–0 lead.

For the 1987 season, Burris was hired as assistant to Brewers general manager Harry Dalton and as a minor-league instructor.

In 1992, he became the bullpen coach of the Texas Rangers, and also worked in their front office and minor league systems.

Burris with the Chicago Cubs
New York Mets 1980 #26 Ray Burris road jersey