Career
Burkett began his professional career as a pitcher, won 27 games at the age of 19 in 1888 in Scranton, Pa., and also compiled a 39–6 record for the Worcester Club of the New England League. He played in the Major Leagues from 1890 to 1905, primarily as an outfielder, and had an accomplished hitting career, smacking 200 hits in a season six times and batting over .400 twice (1895 and 1896), only the second hitter in Major League history to do so, the first being Ed Delahanty. On his Hall of Fame plaque, Burkett is credited for hitting over .400 three times; subsequent research and updated records have lowered his 1899 batting average to .396. In 1895 and 1896, Burkett's two best seasons, the Cleveland Spiders finished second twice and faced off against the Baltimore Orioles both seasons in the Temple Cup series, beating the Orioles in the 1895 series with Cy Young pitching three victories. Also, in game one of the series, Burkett scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth to set the tone for the series. Burkett holds the record for the most inside-the-park home runs in Major League Baseball, with 55.
Read more about this topic: Jesse Burkett
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)