The party was only born when Glenn Burke got there. The clubhouse only felt like home when Glenn Burke walked in.
He was a needler, a performer, a teammate. His only enemy was silence.
“He was Richard Pryor before there was a Richard Pryor,” said Sidney Burke, his brother.
Glenn Burke was also a homosexual, back when secrets could almost be kept. Most of the Dodgers knew. The public didn’t, not until Burke retired at the absurd age of 27. The books and the witnesses replaced the whispers.
Today, Burke wouldn’t be able to control his news.