Larry Allen Burright (born July 10, 1937) is a retired American professional baseball player. A utility

middle infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

, he appeared in 159 games in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

between and for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

. Burright threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

was listed as tall and .

Career

Born in

Roseville, Illinois Roseville is a village in Warren County, Illinois, United States. The population was 892 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Galesburg, Illinois, Galesburg Galesburg micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. ...

, Burright and his family eventually moved to

Alhambra, California Alhambra (, , ; from "Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately east from the downtown Los Angeles civic center. It was incorporated on July 11, 190 ...

. He graduated from

Mark Keppel High School Mark Keppel High School (MKHS) is a four-year California Distinguished School located in the city of Alhambra, California, in the Alhambra Unified School District. The school is in a residential neighborhood, directly south of the abutting Inters ...

and attended

Fullerton College Fullerton College (FC) is a public community college in Fullerton, California. The college is part of the California Community Colleges System and the North Orange County Community College District. Established in 1913, it is the oldest communi ...

. In 1957, he signed with the Dodgers (then still in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

), and played five full seasons in their minor league organization. In 1961, he

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

.291 in Double-A and was called up to the major league club in 1962. Burright started 69 games at second base for the 1962 Dodgers, essentially playing the position when the versatile

Jim Gilliam James William "Junior" Gilliam (October 17, 1928 – October 8, 1978) was an American second baseman, third baseman, and coach in Negro league and Major League Baseball who spent his entire major league career with the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Do ...

moved over to

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. But Burright batted only .205 in 276

plate appearances In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...

and committed a costly

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

in the ninth inning of the decisive Game 3 of the

1962 National League tie-breaker series The 1962 National League tie-breaker series was a Playoff format#Best-of-three playoff, best-of-three playoff series that extended Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1962 Major League Baseball season, 1962 regular season to determine the winner of t ...

, which led to an insurance run in the Dodgers' 6–4 loss to the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. In the offseason, the Dodgers traded Burright, along with infielder

Tim Harkness Thomas William Harkness (born December 23, 1937) is a Canadian former professional baseball first baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1961 to 1964 for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. The native of Lachine, Quebec, ...

, to the Mets in a multi-player offseason deal for

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

Bob Miller. For the 1963 Mets, he hit only .220 in 41 games, eventually losing the regular job to

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

Ron Hunt Ronald Kenneth (Ron) Hunt (born February 23, 1941) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1963 to 1974 for the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Mon ...

, and spent much of the campaign with the minor league

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

. The following year, he made the 1964 Mets coming out of

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

, but went hitless in seven early-season

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

and was sent to the minors. He retired from baseball in 1965 at the age of 28 after failing to return to the big leagues. During his MLB career, he amassed 73 hits, including eight doubles, six

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

and four

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

References

External links

1937 births Living people Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Warren County, Illinois Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Great Falls Electrics players Los Angeles Dodgers players Macon Dodgers players Major League Baseball second basemen New York Mets players Omaha Dodgers players People from Roseville, Illinois Rochester Red Wings players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Spokane Indians players Sportspeople from Alhambra, California Baseball players from Los Angeles County, California Thomasville Dodgers players Victoria Rosebuds players Mark Keppel High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-second-baseman-stub