Major League Baseball trailblazer Glenn Burke was a talented player and gregarious teammate credited with inventing the “high five”. He was also the first openly gay player in a game that is not known for supporting LGBTQ+ athletes. Not willing to compromise who he was, Burke left professional baseball at age 27 to live his truth. A compelling memoir of Burke’s life, Singled Out shares photographs and details of Burke’s childhood through his iconic days in the gay community before his tragic death from complications of AIDS at age 42. Join Andrew Maraniss and Dave Zirin as they discuss Glenn Burke’s legacy in baseball and the LGBTQ+ community.
Andrew Maraniss writes sports-and history-related nonfiction, telling stories with a larger social message. His first book, Strong Inside, received the Lillian Smith Book Award for civil rights and the RFK Book Awards' Special Recognition Prize for social justice, becoming the first sports-related book ever to win either award. His young readers adaptation of Strong Inside was named one of the Top Biographies for Youth by the American Library Association. Andrew is a contributor to ESPN's D.C.-based sports and race website, TheUndefeated.com, and is a visiting author at the Vanderbilt University Athletic Department. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and now lives in Nashville.
Dave Zirin was named one of the "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World" by The Utne Magazine. He writes about the politics of sports for the Nation magazine (where he is their first sports writer in 150 years of existence) as well as the Progressive, and a regular op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. Zirin is also the host of the "Edge of Sports Podcast."
Ages 12 and up
Each purchase of Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke will come with a signed bookplate, while supplies last.
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