Dusty Baker, Glenn Burke and the Disputed Real Story Behind Sports’ Iconic High Five
The high five is one of the most universal gestures in sports. Everybody knows it. But the real story behind who actually invented it? That’s where things get messy — and far more interesting than most people realize.
The most widely cited origin traces back to a specific moment: Oct. 2, 1977. Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Dusty Baker had just hit his 30th home run of the season. As he crossed home plate, teammate Glenn Burke greeted him with an upraised hand. Baker slapped it. According to Britannica, that moment is often credited as the first recorded high five, and Burke is recognized for helping popularize the gesture in professional sports. The interaction was not televised.
Baker himself described it as pure instinct.
“His hand was up in the air, and he was arching way back,” Baker told ESPN in 2020. “So I reached up and hit his hand. It seemed like the thing to do.”
That’s the version most people know. But Burke’s personal history adds a dimension that often gets glossed over in casual retellings.
Burke played during an era when being openly gay in professional sports carried major stigma. After his time with the Dodgers and a brief stint with the Oakland Athletics organization, Burke’s baseball career ended in the minors in 1980. He came out publicly in 1982. His life was marked by hardship, and he died in 1995 from AIDS-related complications. The man widely credited with co-creating one of sports’ most joyful gestures lived a life shaped by discrimination and loss.
The Baker-Burke moment has since entered pop culture. In a 2019 episode of “American Dad,” a storyline humorously depicts a character claiming to have invented the high five before Dusty Baker is shown taking credit, turning the historical debate itself into satire.
Not Everyone Buys the 1977 Story
Here’s the twist: multiple competing origin stories challenge the Dodgers narrative, and some predate it entirely.
Some accounts suggest the high five existed as a gesture among U.S. military personnel stationed in Japan after World War II. Others point to visual similarities in earlier media, including a scene in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film Breathless where characters appear to perform a similar gesture — 17 years before Baker and Burke’s celebrated moment.
Another theory ties the gesture to African American Vernacular English, specifically the phrase “gimme five,” suggesting the physical motion evolved from existing cultural expressions that predated the 1977 game.
The Louisville Counterclaim
Then there’s the University of Louisville story, which might be the most compelling rival account of all.
At a basketball practice during the 1978-79 season, forward Wiley Brown went to give a plain old low five to his teammate Derek Smith. Out of nowhere, Smith looked Brown in the eye and said, “No. Up high.”
The context is what makes this version click. The Cardinals were known as the Doctors of Dunk. They played above the rim. So when Smith raised his hand, it made immediate sense to Brown.
“I thought, yeah, why are we staying down low? We jump so high,” Brown told ESPN.
Brown insists it’s Smith who invented the high five and Smith who spread it around the country. That puts the Louisville origin at the 1978-79 season — after the Baker-Burke moment by roughly a year, but with a completely independent origin story and its own logic for why the gesture caught on beyond a single dugout celebration.
Why the Debate Still Isn’t Settled
The high five’s origin remains contested precisely because it’s the kind of gesture that could have been invented multiple times in multiple places. A slap between two raised hands isn’t exactly a complex invention. The military theory, the Godard film scene, the AAVE connection, the Baker-Burke Dodgers moment and the Louisville basketball story all carry some degree of plausibility.
What’s undeniable is that the Dodgers story has won the popular narrative. Baker and Burke’s version carries emotional weight — not just because of the home run celebration itself but because of Burke’s personal story, the discrimination he faced and his early death. That combination makes for a powerful origin story regardless of whether it was truly the absolute first.
While many credit that famous 1977 MLB moment, historians and cultural references point to evidence suggesting the gesture may have deeper and more diverse roots than any single baseball game.
The next time someone throws up a hand after a big play, the gesture they’re making carries more history — and more competing claims to its creation — than almost anyone realizes. That’s the kind of detail worth dropping at the next watch party.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
