• Card series: Beginnings: 1880's
• City: Kansas City
• Team: Cowboys
• League: American Association

James Milton Burns (1861-1909) was an outfielder for the Kansas City Cowboys and Washington Statesmen in three seasons. He played for the Kansas City Cowboys in 1888-89 and for Washington’s first season in the American Association, 1891. That was also the American Association’s final year and the team moved to the National League as the Senators. 1888 was KC’s first year in the AA and ’89 was their last, so Burns was with teams in flux. A productive hitter, his batting average over the three years was .305 with 111 RBI. Jim had begun with Oshkosh and Omaha in ‘86-88 before getting a trial with the Cowboys and he stayed with the team when it became the KC Blues of the Western Association in 1890. He had a brief stint with the Denver Mountaineers before joining the D.C. squad in ‘91. Burns stayed in the minors after his season with the Statesmen, playing exclusively in the Western Association for the Minneapolis Minnies/Millers, the Detroit Creams, Grand Rapids Gold Bugs and St. Paul Apostles

• Jim had a fine .332 average in his ten minor league seasons showing that his MLB stats were typical of a good hitter