Nelson Burbrink
From BR Bullpen
Nelson Edward Burbrink
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 10", Weight 195 lb.
- Debut June 5, 1955
- Final Game September 21, 1955
- Born December 28, 1921 in Cincinnati, OH USA
- Died April 12, 2001 in Largo, FL USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Before the 1941 season started Nelson Burbrink was signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent. The 19 year old catcher spent his first year with the Ashland Colonels where he played in 123 games and hit .315. Nelson would also spend the 1942 year with the same club, this time appearing in 114 games and hitting .307.
The Military called for Burbrink and he would spend the next three years (1943-1945) serving with the United States Navy in World War II.
He was back in baseball in 1946, with the class B Davenport Cubs, where he got into 81 games and hit .260. The next season he turned up in the Ohio State League with the Marion Cardinals as player manager. He led and managed his squad to a 79-60 season, good enough for a second place finish and Nelson personally was the league's leading hitter with a .378 average.
In 1948 he tried the same thing again, this time not quite so successfully, as he managed and played for the class C Clinton Cubs and was replaced by Lee Eilbracht midway through the season and sent to the class B Decatur Commodores, taking over for Red Lucas. Nelson wound up hitting a combined .304 for the year but Decatur went 50-75 and finished 30.5 games back in 7th place. These two years made Nelson forget the managerial end of baseball.
Burbrink would spend almost a dozen years in the minors before the 35 year old catcher would get a chance to play in the majors. He responded well as a back-up catcher for the 1955 St. Louis Cardinals, hitting .276 in 58 games. He was back with the Omaha Cardinals in 1956 and finished up his baseball playing career in 1957 with the Omaha Cardinals and the Houston Buffaloes, playing 126 games and hitting .305.
Nelson retired a couple of years later to become a west coast scout for the St. Louis Cardinals and later joined the New York Mets where he signed Tom Seaver. He became the Mets director of scouting in 1968, and from 1973 to 1977, he was the Mets director of player development. From the late 1970s until his retirement to his home in Seminole, FL in 1992, Nelson was the Midwest scouting director for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Nelson had 14 active seasons in baseball from (1941-1957). In the minors he appeared in 1,453 games went to bat 4,637 times, banged out 1,350 base hits for a career .291 average. In the majors, Nelson often said that the highlight of that short time was when he put the tag on Jackie Robinson, who was attempting to steal home.
He died April 12, 2001, at age 79 in Largo, FL
[edit] Sources
Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball Players of the 1950s
SABR MILB Database:page
