Lieutenant Alexander Thomson Burr, US Army Air Service (November 1, 1893-October 12, 1918)
Tom Burr, from Chicago, played in one Major League game.
A late-inning defensive substitution for the New York Yankees on April 21, 1914 against the Washington Nationals, Burr took over center field at the Polo Grounds when the starter, Bill Holden, was removed for pinch-runner, and future Hall of Famer, Frank Chance. Burr never recorded a chance in the outfield, nor made a plate appearance as the Yankees won in 10, 3-2.
Outside of his one big league game, he played for Jersey City in the International League, getting in seven games as a relief pitcher.
Retiring from baseball after the 1914 season, Burr enlisted in the US Army Air Service in 1917 and eventually went to France for further flight training and gunnery school. It was in Caszaux, according to Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifices, on October 12 where his plane collided with another at altitude, crashing into a nearby lake. Twelve days later, his remains were recovered and buried along with other American soldiers in France. Later, he was reinterred in his hometown of Chicago where he rests now at Rosehill Cemetery.
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