What does the high five mean to you? It may mean nothing but a celebratory gesture because of the ubiquitous nature of the high five in human culture today. It is not uncommon to see athletes, politicians, or just ordinary people performing the high five for occasions with a cause for celebration. For example, every time a sports team wins, you will often find the players exchanging high fives. However, have you ever wondered about the history of the high five?

Well, you can thank Glenn Burke for inventing the high five. A professional baseball player in the late 1970s, Burke was an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On October 2, 1977, Burke was on deck for an at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Houston Astros. His teammate, Dusty Baker, was at-bat before Burke and hit his 30th home run for the regular season, joining three other teammates in having at least 30 home runs that season, marking the first time a team had accomplished such a feat in Major League Baseball history.

Prepared to greet Baker midway between third and home plate, Burke outstretched his arm, and the two slapped hands. Right then and there, the two invented a celebratory gesture known today as the high five. So, while you're watching Euro 2020, the NBA playoffs, or the Olympics this year, when you find your favorite teams and athletes or maybe even your opponents performing the high five, you can credit Glenn Burke for inventing the gesture.

However, you may be wondering why all of this is relevant to LGBTQ+ history. That is because Glenn Burke was the first out gay player in MLB history, and it was likely because he was gay that he had a relatively short career in professional baseball, only playing four seasons with the Dodgers and later the Oakland Athletics. When the Dodgers traded Burke to the A's, Dodgers second baseman Davey Lopes lamented the trade, calling Burke "the life of the team, on the buses, in the clubhouse, everywhere."

Spending two seasons in Oakland, Burke's time with the A's was nothing but a footnote. Burke did not have the same relationship with his teammates in Oakland as he did with his teammates in Los Angeles, sometimes trying to avoid him, and he received little playing time as a player in the A's. In the prelude to the 1980 season, Burke suffered a knee injury that saw him relegated to the minor leagues and then released from his contract, marking an unmarkable end to the career of the MLB's first out gay player. Reflecting on his career in baseball, Burke said, "Prejudice drove me out of baseball sooner than I should have. But I wasn't changing."

For a long time, Burke's contributions to baseball as the first out gay player in MLB were left unnoticed and unacknowledged, and they arguably remain that way. MLB honored Burke in a pregame press conference for the 2014 All-Star Game, but there was no mention of him in the broadcast. In 2021, the Oakland Athletics renamed Pride Night in Burke's honor. However, the Los Angeles Dodgers still have yet to acknowledge and honor Burke, the team he first played for in professional baseball.

His time on the field may have been short, but Burke's contributions to baseball, to all of sport, and human culture is indelible. Billions of people worldwide know the high five and understand the meaning of the gesture, and it all started with a gay man spontaneously celebrating a teammate's home run in a 1977 baseball game.


Resources
30 for 30 Shorts: The High Five (ESPN)