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 tall and .

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. 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. 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.

Early life 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. 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 his first, on September 20, he issued six bases on balls and allowed seven runs (only two of them earned) in 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. Then, he broke his left foot and missed much of the first half of the Millers' season with various injuries. When he was healthy, he was not always effective. For example, he had a 1–7 record in his final eight decisions. He failed to get through the inning in three of his next four starts, then got sent to Minneapolis in May, though he was called up at the end of the month when the Giants hit a stretch of 15 games in 13 days.

While Burnside did not have a great spring training in 1958, he was added to the Giants' first San Francisco roster because the team did not wish to expose him to waivers. In 1958, Burnside began throwing a new pitch: a sinker. That day, he entered a game against the Milwaukee Braves that the Giants led 7–4 with two outs in the ninth; Burnside relinquished a game-tying home run to Wes Covington in an eventual 10–9 loss. After that, he was sent to AAA, now the Phoenix Giants of the Pacific Coast League, to finish out the year. He threw three shutouts with Phoenix, posting an 11–7 record, a 3.91 ERA, and 113 strikeouts in 152 innings. In 30 games, he had a 1–3 record and a 3.77 ERA in 62 innings. After posting a 2.16 ERA in his first seven games, he joined the rotation on the last day of May. He threw a complete game on July 9, allowing one run in a 6–1 victory over the Kansas City Athletics. In his next start, the second game of a doubleheader on July 17, he threw another complete game, limiting the New York Yankees to two runs in a 3–2 victory. After posting a 6.75 ERA through his first four August starts, he was moved back to the bullpen, making only one more start during the rest of the year (a game in which he was pulled after allowing the first three hitters to reach). Meanwhile, on June 7 against Cleveland, he left the game in the first inning after walking four of the first seven hitters. Then, pitching coach Sid Hudson suggested Burnside shorten his stride on the mound, and Burnside improved enough to return to the rotation in September. The team was in last place by May 23, when Burnside held the Angels to nine hits and went the distance in a 7–2 victory. He had a winning record (4–3) in his first nine starts of 1962, with a 3.45 ERA. After that, he lost seven of his last eight decisions, as well as his starting spot after August 8. He had an 8.18 ERA in August, allowing 16 runs in 12 innings in the three starts he made that month. He had a 4.91 ERA in five relief appearances for Baltimore through early May of , then drew his unconditional release on May 9. Gil Hodges, manager of the Senators, called Burnside “a front-line reliever” in an article that appeared in the Sporting News in early September, but Burnside posted a 12.19 ERA that month, failing to record an out in either of his last two appearances. Burnside died August 26, 2022.