Richard Simon Burns (December 26, 1863 – November 16, 1937) was an American professional baseball player from 1883 to 1890. He played three seasons in Major League Baseball, principally as a pitcher and outfielder, for the Detroit Wolverines (37 games, 1883), Cincinnati Outlaw Reds (79 games, 1884) and St. Louis Maroons (14 games, 1885).
During his major league career, Burns appeared in 82 games as an outfielder, 58 as a pitcher and two as a shortstop. He compiled a .267 batting average and scored 97 runs in 544 at bats. As a pitcher, he compiled a 25–27 (.481) win–loss record with a 3.07 earned run average (ERA).
During the 1884 season, he led the Union Association (UA) with 12 triples, ranked third in the league with a .457 slugging percentage, and compiled a 23–15 record and 2.46 ERA as pitcher, and threw a no-hitter. Baseball historian Bill James in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract has cited Burns' dramatically improved performance in 1884 in support of his view that the UA was not a true major league. Although his major league career ended in July 1885, Burns continued to play minor league baseball through the 1890 season and later became a cigar and tobacco seller in his hometown of Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Early years
Burns was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1863. His parents, Thomas and Bridget (Hoy) Burns, were both immigrants from Ireland. At the time of the 1880 U.S. Census, Burns' father was employed as a carpenter. At age 16, Burns worked in a cotton mill, as did his older siblings, Margaret, James and Mary. In 1882, at age 18, Burns began his baseball career playing for the Holyoke club in his hometown.
Professional baseball
Detroit
Burns began his major league career at age 19 with the 1883 Detroit Wolverines of the National League. He appeared in 37 games for the Wolverines, 24 as an outfielder and 17 as a pitcher. In early April 1883, the Detroit Free Press reported on the Wolverines' pre-season pitching practice—conducted in the main hall of Detroit's Music Hall. The newspaper reported that the team's new pitcher, Burns, was 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighed only 140 pounds (a weight that, "with proper training, will doubtless increase"), showed good command of the ball and was developing an "up-shoot" pitch that was "a beauty." A veteran player who observed Burns in spring practice praised his "clever change of pace" and shared the Free Press'''s view that "his up-shoots will be hard to hit." According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the uses of the term "up-shoot" in April 1883, in reference to Burns' pitches, are the first known uses of the term. An "upshoot" in baseball is a curve ball that appears to rise as it approaches the plate.
Despite the beauty of his "up-shoot" pitch, Burns played for a seventh place team that compiled a 40–58 record. In his first major league game, on May 3, 1883, Burns was the losing pitcher in a 10-1 defeat against the Chicago White Stockings. Burns gave up 12 hits and three bases on balls in nine innings, but his team also committed 10 errors (including three by shortstop Sadie Houck), and the Detroit Free Press was upbeat about Burns' debut performance:"Burns, the new pitcher, made his first appearance in the box as a league twirler, and was, naturally enough, nervous, especially as he was facing the sluggers of the champion team. It was hoped that he would be well supported, but he was not. The only wonder is that he 'stood up' as well as he did. Many an old pitcher would have weakened under such circumstances. He made a good impression, however, the nearly universal expression of the spectators being that he came out of the game with credit. He made errors himself, muffing a fly, and giving three men bases on called balls, but these were to be expected under the circumstances, and he has no cause to be disheartened; quite the contrary."
For the season as a whole, Burns compiled a 2–12 (.143) win–loss record and a 4.51 earned run average (ERA). As a batter, Burns compiled a .186 batting average. His Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for the 1883 season was -1.8.
Cincinnati
In 1884, Burns joined the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds of the newly-formed and short-lived Union Association (UA). Competing against the lower talent level in the UA, Burns had the best year of his career. As a pitcher, he started 40 games (34 of them complete games) and compiled a 23–15 win–loss record and a 2.46 ERA in innings. He also pitched a no-hitter on August 26, 1884, against the Kansas City Cowboys, the first of only two no-hitters pitched in the UA. His no-hitter was also the first ever hurled by a major league ballplayer of a Cincinnati club.