Tom Burr (baseball)

Tom Burr photograph from 1918 newspaper article on his death (Burr on right)
Tom Burr
Outfielder
Born: November 1, 1893
Chicago, Illinois
Died: October 12, 1918 (aged 24)
Cazaux, France
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 21, 1914 for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
April 21, 1914 for the New York Yankees
Career statistics
Batting average .000
Home runs 0
Runs batted in 0
Teams

Alexander Thomson Burr (November 1, 1893 – October 12, 1918) was a Major League Baseball player who was killed in World War I. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Burr was known as "Tom" to his friends. Press accounts throughout his life, as well as other memoirs, used this nickname, although many baseball references labeled him "Alex" (perhaps because of the brevity of his major-league career).

Burr attended The Choate School (later Choate Rosemary Hall), where he was a star pitcher. He then went to Williams College, although he turned pro before he ever played a collegiate game. Burr made the New York Yankees roster as a pitcher under manager Frank Chance. However, his only game appearance for the Yankees (on April 21, 1914) came in center field. He had no fielding chances and did not have a plate appearance.

Burr returned to Williams after his pro career ended, but he volunteered to serve in the war before he graduated. He was killed in an airplane accident on October 12, 1918 while serving in the United States Army Air Service in Cazaux, France. After colliding with a fellow pilot, Burr's plane crashed into a lake in flames; his body was recovered after 12 days. He had been serving in France since November 1917 and was 24 years old at the time of his death.

Burr was interred in American Expeditionary Forces Cemetery No. 29. During the years after the end of World War I, this cemetery was deconsecrated. Some of the bodies exhumed—including Burr's—were repatriated. Tom Burr's final resting place became Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago.

Burr was one of eight Major League Baseball players who died while serving in World War I. The others were: Bun Troy‚ Larry Chappell‚ Eddie Grant‚ Ralph Sharman, Harry Glenn, Harry Chapman, and Newt Halliday.

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