I've read a few interviews with Gardner, a couple of them while Perry Mason was still running, and a couple of times he swore up and down that he didn't make the "hamburger" connexion when he named his district attorney "Hamilton Burger".

I always rooted for Burger in the courtroom; he was an honest, ethical man. And yes, his average was pretty much zero when he ran up against Mason, but it sure had to be 100% against the real murderers, seeing as how they always confessed in open court after Mason's examinations.