Born: January 5, 1950
Died:
Goto Baseball-Reference.com for Fred Zweifel
Ernie Burch was one of the few players on the St. Louis Whites with significant major league experience prior to joining the Whites. He made his major league debut in 1884 with Cleveland in the National League, and then in 1886 and 1887 played with Brooklyn in the American Association. In 1887, he was hitting near .300 with Brooklyn when he was released. It was reported that he had bought a ranch, and that he was more concerned about his ranch than playing baseball. He was signed by Tom Loftus in February of 1888, one of the last players signed by the Whites prior to spring training. He appeared in every game for the Whites, playing left field and batting cleanup.
After the Whites disbanded, he went back to his ranch. He came back to professional baseball in 1890 and 1891, playing with the club in Peoria. He died in 1892 at the age of 36 in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Spring stats for the Whites Date Opponent Pos. AB R BH 2B 3B HR SB BB K 4/1/1888 Prickly Ash lf 4 2 1 1 2 4/7/1888 Browns lf 3 0 1 0 4/8/1888 Browns lf 4 1 3 2 1 4/12/1888 Kansas City lf 4 0 0 4/15/1888 Browns lf 4 0 0 1 1 4/16/1888 Bloomington lf 5 1 1 1 0 4/17/1888 Bloomington lf 4 1 2 4/18/1888 Bloomington lf 4 1 2 4/19/1888 Peoria lf 4 0 1 1 4/20/1888 Peoria lf 4 0 2 1 4/21/1888 Davenport lf 3 1 1 1 0 4/22/1888 Davenport lf 4 0 3 1 0 4/23/1888 Rockford lf 3 1 0 4/24/1888 Rockford lf 5 2 1 1 4/25/1888 Dubuque lf 4 1 2 1 4/26/1888 Dubuque lf 2 0 1 0 Totals (16 G) 61 12 22 4 0 1 6 0 4 1 HBP; 14 putouts, 2 assists and 4 errors