Tim Burke, Former MLB Pitcher
Sports Spectrum Podcast
Sports Spectrum
4.9 • 685 Ratings
🗓️ 3 September 2019
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode 361
Tim Burke pitched for 8 seasons in the Major Leagues from 1985 to 1992. He was selected in the second round of the 1980 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and was traded four times in his MLB career.
He made his MLB debut in April of 1985 with the Montreal Expos and pitched for 7 seasons in Montreal before being traded to the Mets in 1991 and then to the Yankees in 1992. He he would retire from pro baseball after Spring Training in 1993.
Burke's best MLB season came in 1989 when he 9-3 with 28 saves and a 2.55 ERA, leading to his one and only trip to the All-Star Game.
After retirement, Burke would spend time raising his four adopted kids, as well as enter into the world of pro hockey ministry to share and equip NHL players in their walk with God.
On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Tim about his pro baseball journey, the story of pitching in the 1989 All-Star game and then adopting his child in Guatemala, coming to faith in Christ as a minor leaguer and how God has redeemed his life after bouts with heavy drinking, depression, a broken marriage, and a difficult season of parenting.
For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sports Spectrum, the Sports and Faith podcast that brings Jesus back into the conversation. |
| 0:17.5 | Here's your host, Jason Romano. |
| 0:19.7 | Welcome to Sports Spectrum. I'm Jason Romano. Welcome to Sports Spectrum. |
| 0:21.2 | I'm Jason Romano. |
| 0:22.1 | Thanks for being here on the show with us today. |
| 0:25.8 | Very excited to bring to you a conversation we had with Tim Burke. |
| 0:30.3 | Tim is a retired Major League baseball pitcher. |
| 0:33.4 | Played for the Montreal Expos, the New York Mets, and finished out his career with the New York Yankees. |
| 0:38.9 | He came into baseball in April of 1985 with the Expos, retired after the 1992 season when he finished |
| 0:47.2 | out with the New York Yankees in September of 1992. |
| 0:51.7 | He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in round two of the 1980 Major League Baseball |
| 0:57.8 | draft and was traded to the Expos for outfielder Pat Rooney and then made his Major |
| 1:03.2 | League debut April 8th, 1985 with Montreal. In 1989, he was selected to the National League |
| 1:10.3 | All-Star team and had 102 saves in his |
| 1:15.1 | career as a baseball pitcher. He was the closer for the Montreal Expo is there for a few years in the late |
| 1:22.3 | 1980s. Tim's a fascinating guy because certainly his baseball career has enough stories to fill up a |
| 1:31.9 | podcast. |
| 1:32.3 | And we talk about that 1989 All-Star game that Tim was a part of. |
| 1:37.3 | But even more than that, Tim has an amazing story of adoption, adopting two orphan children from Korea, one from Vietnam, |
| 1:47.1 | one from Guatemala. Tim's a Christian, of course, and has a really great testimony of faith. |
| 1:55.3 | And Tim also has experienced some pretty dark times in his life as well that he touches on here in this interview. |
| 2:03.3 | I really love talking to Tim. Ironically, Tim is also involved in hockey ministry. Now, he's a |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sports Spectrum, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sports Spectrum and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.