As a sophomore at Warren High School, Jon Burke was named the Eastern Baseball Division’s first team designated hitter.  Two years later he was an infielder on the Eastern Division’s first team, and he was named to the Division’s All Star nine.

During three high school summers, Jon played for the Alegria’s/East Bay American Legion teams that reached the state semi-finals in 1990 and captured the regular season State Championship in 1991.  He was named to Divisional All Star teams in both of these latter years.

He then attended the Community College of Rhode Island, where he was the team’s leading hitter (.394) in 1992.  That team compiled a record of thirty-one wins and ten losses and earned an invitation to the Junior College World Series.

Moving on to Florida’s Eckerd College, Jon led the team in hitting in both his junior and senior seasons.  Named team captain for his senior year (a noteworthy accomplishment given the fact that he had only been on the team for one season), he hit .401 after being named to a preseason All American squad.  He ranks in Eckerd’s top five career hitters, with a career batting average of .385.

He played eighteen years in the Newport Sunset League, where he won the league batting title four different times.

Jon is the founder and operator of the East Bay Baseball Academy in Bristol.  His prize pupils include (1) Damon Constantino of Salve Regina University, who set a national collegiate record by hitting safely in sixty consecutive games and (2) Danny Gamache of Hendricken, who was the Most Valuable Player of the 2008 Rhode Island Division One tournament and then walked on to the varsity at Auburn University of the Southeastern Conference in 2009.

Pictures from Hall of Fame archives