Jesse Burkett was a Major League Baseball player from 1890 to 1905. He is a member of the 400 club since he batted over .400 twice. After his playing career, he dabbled in managing at the minor league level and collegiate level and had much success. In 1946, he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Early Life
Jesse Burkett was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Granville and Ellen Burkett.
Wheeling, located on the border of Ohio and West Virginia, was one of the state's more industrial cities. Granville Burkett worked as a laborer and painter for the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company.
As a young boy, Jesse learned to swim in the river and was on hand one afternoon in 1881 when a little girl fell off a skiff into the currents. Jesse quickly dove into the water and began scouring the muddy bottom in a desperate attempt to find her. "Finally, one of my hands touched her," he later recalled, "and I brought her to the surface. Her heart was still beating, but they couldn't bring her to."
More than 70 years later, the memory of the girl's death still brought tears to the eyes of the typically brusque, unsentimental Burkett.
Baseball Career
Burkett began his professional career as a pitcher in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The 19-year-old won 27 games and would also go on to compile a 39 - 6 record for the Worcester Club of the New England League. His arm began to generate much attention.
During this time, Burkett was given the nickname "Crab" due to his lack of emotion and stoic disposition.
At the end of the season with the Worcester Club, Burkett's contract was acquired by the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the National League. The Hoosiers folded before the end of the season, and his contract was picked up by the New York Giants.
The young Burkett anticipated becoming one of the premier pitchers in the National League and was set to make a great pitching staff even better. He pitched behind an 18-year-old Amos Rusie and 30-year-old veteran Mickey Welch. However, his National League debut did not go as planned. He struggled on the mound, won just 3 games, and posted a terrible 5.57 ERA.
However, as bad as his pitching was, his hitting was the exact opposite. The once .260 hitter finished his first season in the National League with a .309 average in 401 at-bats.
At the end of the 1890 season, the Players League collapsed, and the pool of professional baseball players in the National League became larger, and competition for positions became stiffer. Jesse Burkett would be let go by the Giants and picked up by the Cleveland Spiders shortly before the 1891 season.
He struggled at the plate, initially posting a .269 batting average, but as the decade progressed, his bat began to improve, and he became one of the best hitters in the league.
He would never become a good defensive player and was often viewed as clumsy on the field. He had a weak arm and led the league in errors 3 times.
Despite being a liability in the field, Cleveland manager Patsy Tebeau kept him in the lineup due to his stellar offense. After raising his batting average from .275 in 1892 to .358 in 1894, Burkett really hit his stride in 1895, when he captured his first batting title with a .409 average.
Burkett's offensive explosion came via a sudden barrage of singles. Never ranking among the top five in doubles, Burkett became the best singles hitter in the game in 1895, thanks in large part to his improved bunting technique, the result of constant practice. "Burkett seldom failed to drop a bunt just where he wanted to," one reporter later remarked. "He could lay it down either side of the plate, stop it dead if need be, or drag it as the occasion required." In fact, Burkett became so good at laying one down that at least one knowledgeable observer, longtime scout Frank Shaughnessy, thought Burkett was the greatest bunter who ever lived.
He also became an expert at fouling the ball off.
As great as a hitter Jesse Burkett was, he was known for his scowl and disposition during the game. He was known to be quick-tempered and one of the meanest players in the game. He was once benched for throwing a baseball into a crowd of hecklers. His team had to forfeit a game because he was ejected and refused to leave the field, and he would fight with opposing players and umpires throughout his career.
Despite his attitude, he was consistently the best hitter in the game. In 1896, he batted .410 with 240 hits, winning his second consecutive batting title. His record would stand for 15 years until broken by Ty Cobb in the 1911 season.
The Society for American Baseball Research says this about his later career:
Nearing the age of 33, Burkett decided in October 1901 to jump to the newly-arrived St. Louis Browns of the rival American League in 1902. While the change netted Burkett a heftier salary, it also hurt his batting, as his average slumped to .306, the last time he would bat better than .300 in the major leagues. Despite his lowered average, Burkett remained an effective hitter. In 1903, he batted .293 and ranked fourth in the league with 52 walks. When his average dipped further in 1904, the resourceful Burkett responded by placing second in the league with 78 free passes, and his .363 on-base percentage was fifth-best in the circuit. Along with his reputation as a great hitter, it was a performance good enough to allow the Browns to trade Burkett to the Boston Americans at the end of the season for George Stone, who would briefly emerge in 1906 as one of the game's best hitters. Burkett, on the other hand, was nearly finished. Playing in 148 games for Boston in 1905, Jesse batted just .257. Combined with his ability to get on base, it was still an above-average offensive performance, but for Burkett, it marked the end of his major league career.
Personal Life and Managerial Career
Jesse Burkett lived in Worcester with his wife, Ellen McGrath, and their three kids. Despite his tenacity on the baseball field, he was conservative with his money and made wise investments.
He purchased a minor league franchise in the New England League and moved them to Worcester. He would play on the team, be their best hitter, and guide them to four consecutive pennants.
He then sold his ownership in the team and became the manager for Holy Cross from 1917 - 1920. In 1921, he managed one season under John McGraw for the New York Giants but was unpopular and left after they won the pennant.
Following his stint with the Giants, Burkett returned to the minor leagues, where he managed the Worcester entry in the Eastern League in 1923 and 1924 and Lewiston of the New England League from 1928 to 1929.
During the Great Depression, he worked occasionally as a scout and spring training instructor while also holding down a job with the Massachusetts State Highway Department.
He was hospitalized in 1935 after being struck by a car while directing traffic in Southbridge, Massachusetts, though he eventually recovered.
Hall of Fame and Death
Jesse Burkett was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946, close to 40 years after his last major league game. He believed that the game had forgotten him and was quoted by a reporter at his induction saying, "It took them a long time, and I thought they weren't going to because everybody had forgotten me."
Burkett was one of the first great hitters in baseball. Many of his records would be erased by Ty Cobb, but he still holds many franchise records for the St. Louis Cardinals.
He would become the first West Virginia native to be elected into the Hall of Fame.
On May 27, 1953, Jesse Burkett died of heart disease. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Worcester, Massachusetts.
