Pete Burnside

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Peter Willits Burnside

Bats Right, Throws Left
Height 6' 2", Weight 190 lb.

High School New Trier High School

Debut September 20, 1955
Final Game September 27, 1963
Born July 2, 1930 in Evanston, IL USA

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[edit] Biographical Information

Before the 1949 season Pete Burnside was signed by the 1949 New York Giants as an amateur free agent. The 19 year old Ivy Leaguer spent his first season with the with the class C St. Cloud Rox. Pete would pitch for the New York Giants organization for three summers by the time he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1952.

Pete spent a few years in the minors and was in the United States Military in 1953, during the Korean War. He was back on the field with the Minneapolis Millers and the Nashville Volunteers in 1954. He had a late season call to the Polo Grounds in 1955 after going 18-11 with the Dallas Eagles and leading the Texas League with 235 strikeouts. His first victory in the majors was a 5-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies and Robin Roberts, who was trying for his 24th win of the year.

The left-hander was with the Giants in their first year in San Francisco briefly, but spent most of the 1958 season helping the Phoenix Giants to the PCL pennant with 11 wins. Pete was in the American League with the Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators and the Baltimore Orioles from 1959 to 1963, finishing up with an overall record of 19-36 and a .481 ERA in the majors.

In 1961 he had the distinction of being the only southpaw to give up as many as three of the record 61 home runs hit by Roger Maris. In 1963 he was joined by a fellow Dartmouth graduate, Art Quirk, on the Washington Senators pitching staff.

Burnside had been in pro baseball an active 15 years, from 1949 through 1963. His minor league record shows he won 60 while losing 57 with a 5.29 ERA. After retiring from the American game Pete was in Nippon Pro Baseball for a couple of seasons, and following that the Evanston, IL native received his master's degree at Northwestern University and was a teacher and coach at New Trier High School in Wilmette, IL for 26 years, retiring in 1994.