The oldest of eight children of Susan (Cummings) and Edward Burrell, a Scottish immigrant who fought in the Civil War and later worked in railroad maintenance,
Edward Ulysses Burrell was born in working-class poverty on July 8, 1871, in the city of Cairo, Illinois. During the winter of 1883-84 a diphtheria epidemic struck Cairo, taking Susan and three of her children, and leaving Edward Sr., a heavy drinker, alone to raise Eddie and the other four surviving children. One night in the fall of 1884, 13-year-old Eddie received such a severe beating from his father that he moved across the street to the Riverside Inn, where a kindly widow named Mary Johnson took him in and raised him along with her own two sons. Besides attending school, Eddie performed chores around the hotel, delivered newspapers, and peddled candy, fruit, and magazines out of a basket on the train from Cairo to Chicago. He used the money to buy new baseballs and the annual Spalding guide, parts of which he memorized.
At 16 years old, Eddie Burrell already stood 5'11" but weighed little more than 140 lbs., yet that didn't prevent his becoming the star pitcher for the local Cairo Egyptians. When Cairo's manager,
Jeff Longley (a former professional with Philadelphia in both the Association and National League), became part owner and manager of the Joliet franchise in the Illinois-Iowa League in 1888, Eddie begged for and received a place on the team. In his first game on May 18, Burrell played third base and made eight errors in 10 chances. He was released after six games but caught on with Kokomo of the Indiana State League, batting .384 in 22 games.
One of Eddie's teammates (who had taken to calling him "The Egyptian" due to his having been born in Cairo) was a former National League player named
Glenn Felty who was organizing a winter tour of Cuba. Burrell went along and played some third base and some second base for the "American All-Stars." On the way home from Cuba, Felty's team stopped in Gainesville, Florida, to play a spring-training exhibition against the NL's Cleveland Spiders. Eddie collected three doubles in five at-bats, receiving national publicity when the game story appeared in
The Sporting News. From among the resulting offers he received for the coming season, he chose Cedar Rapids - back in the Illinois-Iowa League and batted .276 in 85 games as the club's regular second baseman.
In August of that year (1889), Eddie signed with the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (bearing with him the recommendations of former Phils Felty and Longley) and played in 22 games over the last two months of play, batting just .136, but showing he could handle the fielding chores at second base and displaying flashes of speed and determination.
In 1890 Burrell was the Phillies' starter at the keystone, playing 125 games, hitting .246 but displaying a hard-nosed, gritty approach to the game and swiping 48 bases. In 1891 he appeared in 81 games for the Phils and though he regressed at the plate with a .236 average and only 24 stolen bases, his combative play and fiery temper made him a "nuisance" according to opponents such as New York's Hick Rogers who had a famous dust-up with Burrell in June after the latter spiked him while attempting to steal second. Asked later which Phillie he'd like to have on the Giants, Rogers replied: "Burrell. That s.o.b. is tough as nails and mean as a tomcat in a sack."
He enters the 1892 season as the presumptive starter at second base, with his main challenger, Ed Stevenson, slated to be the left fielder for the Phillies.
ED "THE EGYPTIAN" BURRELL
(To Be Continued)
ED. NOTE: Like Goodenough, Burrell will be a featured player in the TBC dynasty thread.