Burns was shuffled to five teams in his five ML seasons, and not only because he never had a winning year. He was a crap-shooting, card-playing gambler with good stuff but no ambition, known to read newspapers or doze on the bench during games. In 1919, while in Cincinnati selling oil stock, he reportedly learned of the Black Sox World Series plans. He won $4,000 on the first two games, then lost it all when honest Dickie Kerr won the third game.
