On This Date October 2, 1977
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
The Los Angeles Dodgers become the first team to have four players with 30 or more home runs in the same season. Steve Garvey led the way with 33, while Reggie Smith had 32 and Ron Cey had 30. On the last day of the season Dusty Baker joined the club at home plate he was greeted by teammate Glenn Burke who raised his hand, giving birth to the high five.
The 1977 season was a new beginning for the Dodgers, as Tommy Lasorda took over as full-time manager. Lasorda’s managerial career began at the end of the 1976 season when Walter Alston retired with four games remaining, ending a 23-year tenure dating by to Brooklyn. Powered by a 17-3 record in April, the Dodgers spent nearly the entire season in first place and won the National League West by ten games over the two-time defending World Champion Cincinnati Reds, posting a record of 98-64.
The Dodgers were bolstered by a deep lineup. At the heart of the lineup were four power hitters who seemed to deliver the big hit whenever it was needed. Steve Garvey was their top hitter, with a team-best 33 home runs, while batting .297 with 115 RBI. Reggie Smith was their second leading power hitter, with 32 home runs, while leading the team with a .307 average and driving in 87 runs. Ron Cey was the third Dodger to have reach 30 home runs, hitting .241 with 110 RBI. As the Dodgers went into the last game of the season Dusty Baker was stuck on 29 home runs, looking to make history as the first time four players on the same team had 30 or more home runs. In the sixth inning facing the Houston Astros flame throw J.R. Richard, Baker finally hit his 30th home run, finishing the season with a .291 average and 86 RBI. When Baker got home on deck hitter Glenn Burke raised his hand high at which point Baker smacked it giving birth to the high five, which quickly caught on throughout all sports. Baker a rookie who followed with the first home run of his career to briefly give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead after, Baker’s home run tied the game. The Astros would win the game 6-3, as the Dodgers finished the game with their reserves in the game as they focused on the NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Dodgers would go on to play in the World Series, facing their old rival New York Yankees, losing in six games when Reggie Jackson had a day for the ages in Game 6. The Dodgers would lose two straight World Series to the Yankees, as they played a rematch a year later. For all four Dodgers hitting 30 home runs, it marked a career best. For Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Dusty Baker it marked the only season in which they reached 30 home runs, while Reggie Smith had previous hit 30 homers with the Boston Red Sox in 1971.
Glenn Burke the man who gave birth to the high five would perhaps become the biggest story of the day. Burke who was a fourth outfielder for the Dodgers, playing in 83 games in his first full season in the majors was a popular player on the team. Quick in the field with a good glove, the 24-year-old from Oakland was considered one of the Dodgers top prospects. Quietly he was just as big as a trailblazer as Jackie Robinson when he broke the color barrier two decades earlier, as he was openly gay. The press and the Dodgers tried to brush Glenn Burke’s sexuality under the rug, going as far to bribe him to get married, an offer he quickly refused. However, Burke never made it a secret and most of his team had no issue with it. However, Tommy Lasorda the Dodgers manager did. Things only got worse, when Burke began a dating relationship, with Tommy Lasorda Jr, the manager’s gay son. This led the Dodgers to trade Glenn Burke to the Oakland Athletics in 1978. Burke would spend two seasons in Oakland, playing sparingly. In 1980, things only got worse for Burke when Billy Martin took over as manager of the Athletics. As he recovered from a knee injury, Martin would repeatedly pummel Burke with gay slurs, as he was released and quietly left the game. Glenn Burke’s life would end in 1995 after a long battle with AIDS. The same disease also claimed the life of Tommy Lasorda Jr, who was estranged from his father a few years earlier.
