Pete Burnside

Peter Willits Burnside (July 2, 1930 – August 26, 2022) was an American professional baseball player and left-handed pitcher who appeared in 196 Major League Baseball games in 1955 and from 1957 to 1963 for the New York / San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators and Baltimore Orioles.

He was listed as 6 ft tall and 180 lb.

Burnside grew up in Evanston, Illinois, rooting for the Chicago Cubs.

He signed with the New York Giants out of high school, under the agreement that he could earn his degree at Dartmouth College while pitching in their minor league system.

Burnside was born July 2, 1930, in Evanston, Illinois.

His father Robert, a salesman, married his mother, the former Helen Willits, six years before Burnside's birth—the couple separated in the early 1930s.

Burnside grew up a Chicago Cubs fan and often rode the Chicago "L" rapid transit system to Wrigley Field, where his favorite player was Larry French, who, like Burnside, threw left-handed.

At New Trier High School in Winnetka, Burnside played basketball and baseball, helping the basketball team post a 13–3 record in his senior year and once throwing 19 straight scoreless innings for the baseball team.

The Chicago Cubs gave him a tryout at Wrigley, but he ultimately decided to attend Dartmouth College, choosing not to sign with the Cubs as the minor league baseball season conflicted with the college schedule.

However, the New York Giants also pursued him, on the advice of scout Tom Sheehan.

Chub Feeney, the Giants' president, was a graduate of Dartmouth and worked out an agreement with Burnside under which the pitcher could wait until the spring semester was over to begin his seasons, allowing him to earn his degree.

He signed with the Giants in 1949 but continued his education until 1952, at which point he graduated with a double-major in history and sociology.

Burnside's professional career began in 1949 with the St. Cloud Rox of the Class C Northern League.

He only pitched one game for them that year before being limited to throwing batting practice because of a back ailment.

In 1950, he appeared in 12 games with the team, going 2–6 but posting a 10.07 earned run average (ERA), the product of 60 walks in only 42 innings of work.

He pitched for two teams in 1951: four games for the Ottawa Giants of the Class AAA International League and 14 for the Knoxville Smokies of the Class B Tri-State League.

With both of those teams, he had more walks than innings pitched, though his ERA was less than half what it had been the year before.

In 1952, he made an appearance with the Minneapolis Millers of the Class AAA American Association-he walked seven and allowed three runs in two innings before getting reassigned to the Nashville Volunteers of the Class AA Southern Association.

In nine games for Nashville, he had a 2–3 record and a 4.90 ERA—and then, with the Korean War going on, Burnside was drafted into the United States Army Medical Corps, ending his season.

While in the military, Burnside continued his pitching, drawing national attention by striking out the first 17 batters of a game he pitched for the Hilltoppers, the baseball team for Fort Leonard Wood, in October 1953.

He was discharged in 1954 and assigned to Minneapolis.

Then, he was sent to Nashville in a trade between the minor league clubs, with Minneapolis receiving Alex Cosmidis.

At Nashville again, Burnside had mixed success.

He walked a lot of batters and had 16 home runs allowed in 97 innings but did win two games against the Atlanta Crackers (who had the best record in 1954) and was one of two Nashville pitchers to have a winning record.

“[Burnside] ha[s] the stuff, in bountiful quantity...it’s only a question of polish and control before [he] is ready to wear [a] Giants uniform” opined Joe King of the Sporting News.

Burnside continued to hone his skills in winter ball, joining Giants' stars Willie Mays and Rubén Gómez in helping the Cangrejeros de Santurce win a pennant.

After a stint in the United States Army, Burnside made his major league debut in 1955, picking up his first win the same year and impressing Carl Hubbell, Giants' Hall of Fame pitcher and farm director.

Burnside attended spring training with the Giants in 1955 but was sent to the minors two weeks before the season began.

"I’m happy about it,” he said. “I want a chance to pitch regularly and I know I’ll get it here.” His 1955 season in the Class AA Texas League, where he posted an 18–11 record, a 2.47 ERA, and a league-leading 235 strikeouts for the pennant-winning Dallas Eagles, earned him his first big-league call-up to the New York Giants in September. Carl Hubbell, Giants' Hall of Famer and Farm Director, said he was "the most promising pitcher in the chain." He started two late-season games, both in doubleheaders. In his first, on September 20, he issued six bases on balls and allowed seven runs (only two of them earned) in 3 2⁄3 innings against the cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates. While the Giants' offense bailed him out—Burnside departed the game with New York leading 11–7.

His early exit kept him from claiming the victory in an eventual 14–8 Giants' triumph; that went to relief ace Hoyt Wilhelm.

In his second start a week later, however, Burnside threw a complete game, seven-hitter, earning the win in a 5–2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

In spring training, 1956, Burnside suffered a pulled tendon in his left leg and was sent to Minneapolis shortly before the season began.

Injuries prevented Burnside's return to the big leagues until 1957, and he only won one of the 16 games he pitched for the Giants in 1957 and 1958.

Acquired by the Detroit Tigers for 1959, Burnside spent the whole season in their bullpen that year.

Getting a chance to start with the team in 1960, he had a career-high seven wins before being selected by the Washington Senators in the expansion draft.

In 1961, the Senators used Burnside as a starter at the beginning of the year.

He lost his rotation spot due to ineffective pitching, altered his delivery, and rejoined the starting rotation in September, throwing two shutouts.

He started 1962 in their rotation again but lost his spot; though he set a career high with 20 starts, he also lost a career-high 11 games.

He was traded to the Baltimore Orioles after the season, started 1963 in their bullpen, and was reacquired by the Senators following his release in May; however, he had a 6.15 earned run average for Washington.

He went to Japan following the season, pitching two years with the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball before returning to Illinois to become a teacher and coach at New Trier High School, his alma mater.