Editor’s note: In the Colorado Classics series, The Denver Post takes a weekly look at individuals who made their mark on the Colorado sports landscape and what they are doing now.
There always will be a special place for John Burke in the history of the Rockies.
It’s not because of plaques or awards that mark Burke’s six years in the organization. His special place isn’t totally based on the status of being the franchise’s initial first-round draft selection in the 1992 June draft.
Fourteen years ago, anything connected to the expansion franchise was a first and magnified accordingly. Denver had been spurned by Major League Baseball for more than 30 years, and the locals were soaking up anything and everything.
Pat Daugherty, the Rockies’ director of scouting, added to the excitement, saying the Rockies had drafted the best college pitcher in the country. Burke had achieved All-America status at Florida, and his ties back to Cherry Creek High School just added to the excitement. Burke had been drafted by Houston the year before, but elected not to sign.
“It’s a lot different now,” Burke said as he looked back on those magical days. “The Rockies organization has grown so much. People here had a football mentality and nobody knew how baseball really is. Baseball is a grind. You don’t celebrate after each win and you don’t cry after each loss.”
The build-up led to a crescendo of 80,227 fans in old Mile High Stadium, on April 9, 1993, for the Rockies’ debut.
Burke wasn’t at Mile High that day, but was working his way up the development charts in Central Valley of the Class A California League. He was making his mark in the organization. The year before, he was part of the historic Bend Rockies team that played the first game in the organization. Before the 1993 season was finished, Burke jumped to Triple-A and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, where he was 3-2 in eight starts.
“One of the things I enjoyed most in my career was knowing I was coming back to Colorado to pitch,” Burke said.
But from there, Burke’s career foundered. Arm problems and a bout with wildness erased the 1994 season. After a 7-1 season with the Sky Sox in 1995, Burke made it to the Rockies staff for a time in 1996 and 1997. He left baseball after the 1997 season with a big-league record of 4-6.
“I look at my career as a success,” Burke said. “One of the greatest days was when I found out I was going to the major leagues. I wondered if I would make it there. Baseball is about making jumps to the next level. It’s frustrating when you don’t make the next jump when you finally get there.”
Bob Gebhard, the Rockies’ first general manager, tried to soften the enthusiasm that automatically had made the choices of Burke, Mark Thompson, Roger Bailey and Lloyd Peever the pitching rotation of the future.
“This part of the game isn’t an exact science,” Gebhard said. “You know before you start that only between 5 and 10 percent of the players who sign ever play in the major leagues.”
Burke returned to the University of Florida and completed his college education.
“I wondered ‘What the heck am I going to do next?”‘ Burke said. “I had been paid to play baseball since I was 18 years old, counting a scholarship. It was a huge transition.”
Burke isn’t entirely away from sports, but at the other end of the spectrum. He’s a sales representative for a company that supplies knee and hip joints for replacement surgery. Some of the recipients are former athletes.
“I’m dealing with incredibly talented people,” Burke said. “I’m working with surgeons who are mostly sports-minded people.”
Daugherty still calls his first-round selection of 1992 a story too good to be true. It had the makings of a hometown boy making good. The Rockies won a flip of the coin with the expansion Florida Marlins to get the 27th pick of the draft instead of the 28th.
“I would pick it the same way today,” Daugherty said. “If he had been 100 percent healthy and not run into problems with control, I think he would have stayed a long time.”
Marc Gustafson, Rockies director of player development, said Burke, 36, could be pitching today.
“He had everything you look for in terms of a pitcher who could be a starter for 10 years,” Gustafson said.
The Rockies will put another first-round draft pick on the books Tuesday in the draft.
He’ll be a first-round draft pick. But John Burke is THE first-round draft pick.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
