OUT. The Glenn Burke Story

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area’s “Out. The Glenn Burke Story” Premieres Wednesday, November 10 at San Francisco’s Castro Theater.

WHAT:
The premiere of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area’s Out. The Glenn Burke Story and special town hall edition of Chronicle Live from the Castro Theatre.

WHEN:
Wednesday, November 10th

WHERE:
Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street (at Market Street)
San Francisco, California

www.csnbayarea.com


Limited tickets available at the Castro Theatre box office day of the event beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Doors open: 6:30 p.m.

Chronicle Live Town Hall: 9:15 p.m.

Admission $5.00, proceeds to benefit Marty’s Place – a community living facility that served as home to Glenn Burke.

Note:

"Out. The Glenn Burke Story" will debut on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area at 8:00 p.m.

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY:

"Glenn Burke’s journey through baseball began and ended in Oakland, California. His sports career had many stops along the way, starting as a multi-sport star at Berkeley High School, followed by a brief stint at the University of Nevada, Reno as a prized basketball recruit, and then moving into professional baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers, being hailed by one coach as “the next Willie Mays.” Early in his career, Burke felt he had to hide his true self from his teammates. Later, when he began to reveal glimpses into his sexuality the baseball establishment began to close him out. Out. The Glenn Burke Story, is a one-hour program that documents Burke’s legacy as the first openly homosexual Major League Baseball player.

The documentary tells the dramatic tale of Burke’s Major League career as an outfielder for the Dodgers and as a starter in Game One of the 1977 World Series, to being traded to the Oakland Athletics the following season, and then walking away from the game that he deeply loved in 1980. Many of Burke’s teammates were aware of his homosexuality during his playing career, as were members of management. And many of those teammates believe that his sexuality led to the premature derailment of his baseball career.

Out. The Glenn Burke Story then follows him through his public announcement of his homosexuality in a 1982 Inside Sports magazine article and on The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel, to his downward spiral after his split from baseball, a split that drove Burke to drugs and prison, and eventually to living on the same San Francisco streets where he was once recognized as an icon.

Burke’s story took on another level of tragedy when he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1994. Yet at the end of Burke’s life, the game that he claimed abandoned him so many years before reached out to one of its own. The A’s found Burke and provided him with constant support in his final months, as did some of his former teammates.

Out. The Glenn Burke Story features numerous interviews with Burke’s teammates and friends, including Dusty Baker, Davey Lopes, Reggie Smith, Rick Monday, Manny Mota, Rickey Henderson, Claudell Washington, Mike Norris, Shooty Babitt, Tito Fuentes, and former Major Leaguer and gay rights activist Billy Bean.

Out. The Glenn Burke Story is narrated by Dave Morey, who was recently inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in the class of 2010 after 26 years as a morning host at KFOG and nearly 40 years in broadcasting."
(From Comcast News Release)