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Baseball.it called it “A Samurai for the Knights”. The Godo Knights have signed the American first baseman/outfielder Gary Burnham Jr. for the upcoming season in the Italian Baseball League. He is going to be the DH for Godo. The past two seasons the 35-year-old former minor leaguer played in Asia. He also was part of the Italian preliminary roster for the World Baseball Classic last year, but didn’t make the final cut.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut Burnham attended Clemson University instead of going to the Chicago Cubs, which had him selected in the 1993 amateur draft out of South Windsor High School. Three years later the Oakland Athletics tried their luck in the draft, but he didn’t sign again returning to Clemson for his senior season. In 1997 He finally got into professional baseball, agreeing on a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Burnham made his debut the same summer in the New York-Penn League. He moved up the ladder the next couple of years, reaching eventually Triple-A with the Toronto Blue Jays organization, which he had joined as a free agent for the 2002 season. He later also played for farm teams of the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals and had a stint in the independent Atlantic League for Bridgeport until he returned to the Phillies.
After the 2007 season there wasn’t job open in the United States, so he choose Taiwan as his destination for 2008. Playing for the La New Bears in the Chinese Professional Baseball League he even set a new league record for a foreign player with a 23-game hitting streak, although the mark only lasted a year. For the 2009 season Burnham was signed by the Japanese club Chiba Lotte Mariners, where he had a difficult season, batting .218 with four homeruns and 22 RBI.
Minor League and Independent League Statistics for Gary Burnham Jr.