AP Photo/Brian Cleary
New York City firefighter Mike Burke, left, one of 84 participants in the Los Angeles Dodgers adult baseball camp, talks with first base coach Lou Stennett during a game at the camp in Vero Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001. Burke is a member of Engine 201 in Brooklyn, N.Y., a firehouse that lost four firefighters to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Burke experienced firsthand the horror of ground zero, being involved in recovery efforts from the beginning.
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JOHN NADEL
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Mike Burke is experiencing the thrill of a lifetime this week as one of 84 participants in the Los Angeles Dodgers' adult camp, playing ball, making new friends and meeting some of his heroes.
Ask those around him, though, and they'll tell you he's the hero.
``I've been treated like I'm royalty or something, I'm just a plain old guy from Brooklyn,'' Burke said by telephone from Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., where the camp is being held.
Well, not exactly.
Burke is a member of Engine 201 in Brooklyn, N.Y., a firehouse that lost four firefighters to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center two months ago, and he has experienced firsthand the horror of ground zero, being involved in recovery efforts from the beginning.
Burke was scheduled to be on duty Sept. 11, but traded shifts to play golf with a couple of friends from the firehouse.
They were on the third hole when they heard the first airplane hit the World Trade Center. Shortly thereafter, they were on their way to do whatever they could to help, and it's continued since.
``I didn't take a day off for the first two weeks,'' Burke recalled. ``I'd go home for half-an-hour, and see my wife and dog, then go right back to the firehouse.
``You want to be there, find your guys, you want to carry them out. You don't want anyone else carrying them out. It's a family, we are brothers, we are all brothers. We go to work every day, we don't know if we're going home.''
The 30-year-old Burke is attending the six-day camp free of charge. The 84 participants play baseball most of the day, and use the same facilities as the Dodgers do during spring training. The campers receive instruction from former Dodgers stars.
Team spokesman John Olguin said it was decided to invite someone from the fire and police departments in New York due to their efforts on and since Sept. 11.
``That's how it started, the fire department accepted, it couldn't have worked out more perfectly,'' Olguin said. ``They loved the idea, and this is the guy they found.''
And it just so happens the guy they found is from Brooklyn, where the Dodgers played until moving to Los Angeles in 1957, and a fan of the team since childhood.
``It's an honor to represent the department,'' Burke said. ``It's great to let my hair down a little bit. I do feel a little funny being here, but my captain told me, `Go, Mike, you need a break.'
``To eat breakfast and dinner with Duke Snider, Davey Lopes, Maury Wills, Rick Monday, Ralph Branca, guys like that, it's just unbelievable, a big thrill. Words can't explain it. I have my first child on the way, I'm sure it'll be better than this. But it'll be neck-and-neck as to which tops which. Don't let my wife know that.''
As word spread that Burke was in camp, many campers and instructors introduced themselves.
``He represents more than himself by being here,'' said Carl Erskine, who pitched for the Dodgers from 1948-59. ``He represents our rediscovered respect for the uniform he wears. These people doing great things in public service have always been there. It's sad to say that it took a tragedy for us to regain that level of appreciation.''
Burke said Monday's wife asked him for his autograph.
``I'm taken aback by the kind of impression firefighters have on people,'' Burke said. ``I'll never forget this, never, I'm going to come back next year.
``When I'm on the field, I'm like, `This is awesome.' When I'm in my room, I'll just call the firehouse, see how everybody is, see if they found our guys, feel kind of normal.''
Chris Gutierrez, the Dodgers' coordinator of baseball information, said Burke has been an inspiration to those attending the camp.
``He's a real humble guy, just a real nice person,'' Gutierrez said. ``Everyone wanted to meet him when they found out he was here. A lot of people have been telling him he's been therapeutic for them.''
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