Long after his Negro Leagues career ended, he became the game’s ambassador in Charlotte
EDITOR’S NOTE: In honor of Black History Month, The Charlotte Observer is highlighting the lives and accomplishments of nine people whose contributions might not be as well known as others, local “hidden figures” as it were.
Eddie “G.G.” Burton’s baseball legacy began in 1947, when the then-16-year-old joined the Pennsylvania-based Harrisburg Giants of the Negro Leagues. Burton played second base in the league during the 1940s and ‘50s.
During his career, he also barnstormed across the country with such all-stars as Satchel Paige, Minnie Miñoso and Josh Gibson, his wife once told The Charlotte Post.
Burton eventually moved to Charlotte where he worked with the Charlotte Knights — the Triple-A affiliate for the Chicago White Sox — to host an annual event to honor the memory of the Negro Leagues.
Since 2014, the organization has hosted an annual Negro Leagues Night at Truist Field. The Knights credited Burton’s vision for the creation of the event. Burton served as an ambassador for the sport he loved so much all his life.
Burton passed away in 2018 at the age of 88.
He never played with Jackie Robinson, who went on to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947. But Burton’s wife, Gaile Dry-Burton, told The Charlotte Post how proud Burton always had been of Robinson.
In Burton’s honor, the Knights created the Eddie G.G. Burton scholarship in 2023. The scholarship is meant to “improve educational funding for high school students attending a Historically Black College and University.”
The scholarship — a partnership between Dry-Burton and the Knights — provides three $1,000 scholarships to Charlotte-area high school seniors. The deadline to apply for this year’s scholarships is Feb. 17.
At the time of his death, Dry-Burton spoke of how her husband was a die-hard ball player who’d watch any type of baseball game that he could on TV. “I have no doubt in my mind,” she told The Charlotte Post, “that they’re playing a game right now as you and I are speaking.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
