During his major league career, Burns appeared in 82 games as an outfielder, 58 as a pitcher and two as a shortstop. He compiled a .267 batting average and scored 97 runs in 544 at bats. As a pitcher, he compiled a 25–27 (.481) win-loss record with a 3.07 earned run average (ERA).\n', '

During the 1884 season, he led the Union Association (UA) with 12 triples, ranked third in the league with a .457 slugging percentage, and compiled a 23–15 record and 2.46 ERA as pitcher, and threw a no-hitter. Baseball historian Bill James in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract has cited Burns\' dramatically improved performance in 1884 in support of his view that the UA was not a true major league. Although his major league career ended in July 1885, Burns continued to play minor league baseball through the 1890 season and later became a cigar and tobacco seller in his hometown of Holyoke, Massachusetts.\n', '

Burns was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1863. His parents, Thomas and Bridget (Hoy) Burns, were both immigrants from Ireland. At the time of the 1880 U.S. Census, Burns\' father was employed as a carpenter. At age 16, Burns worked in a cotton mill, as did his older siblings, Margaret, James and Mary. In 1882, at age 18, Burns began his baseball career playing for the Holyoke club in his hometown.\n', '

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