The high five is one of the simplest gestures in the world: raise a hand, slap another palm, celebrate. But its origin story is surprisingly specific, and it involves a baseball diamond, a trailblazing gay athlete, and decades of pop-culture spread.
Here is the real history of the high five, including a few widely repeated "facts" that don't hold up.
The first recorded high five happened on October 2, 1977, when Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Glenn Burke greeted teammate Dusty Baker at home plate with a raised, slapped hand after Baker hit his 30th home run of the season.
That homer made the 1977 Dodgers the first Major League Baseball team ever to have four players each hit 30 or more home runs in a single season.
Glenn Burke, who is credited with inventing the gesture, was one of the first openly gay players in Major League Baseball history, though he did not come out publicly until after his playing career ended.
Burke's role in creating the high five is documented in the 2011 ESPN 30 for 30 short film 'The High Five.'
Burke's MLB career ended in 1979 after he was traded away amid rumors about his sexuality; he died in 1995, and is now recognized as a pioneering figure in LGBTQ+ sports history.
The high five's exact origins are debated: some historians point to reports of a similar hand-slap greeting used informally among American servicemen stationed in Japan after World War II, decades before the 1977 baseball moment.
A hand-slap resembling a high five even appears on screen in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 French New Wave film 'Breathless,' showing similar gestures existed in popular culture before Burke and Baker's moment.
The 'low five,' where hands meet at waist height instead of overhead, is an older and more common celebratory slap than the high five.
The 'air five' is a variation where two people mimic a high five without their hands actually touching.
By the 1980s, the high five had spread well beyond baseball into basketball, football, and everyday celebrations across the United States.
The high five has appeared repeatedly in movies, television shows, and music as a shorthand for triumph or camaraderie.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people avoided high fives and other hand contact due to virus transmission concerns, temporarily replacing them with fist bumps, elbow taps, or foot taps.
National High Five Day has been celebrated in the United States on the third Thursday of April every year since 2002, with events benefiting charities such as CoachArt.
The high five is widely used worldwide today, though it is a Western-associated gesture and isn't a universal greeting; some cultures favor different celebratory or greeting gestures.
Because the high five is so common and spontaneous, there is no verified record of any single person or group having given 'the most' high fives in history.
We write every article to be genuinely fun — and genuinely true. Each fact is checked against reputable sources before it goes live. Spotted something off? Tell us and read our fact-check policy.
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