First openly gay baseball player Sean Conroy mak history - ESPN

Contents:

• FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER OUT AS GAY
• FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO PLAYER, SEAN CONROY, GETS SHUTOUT HISTORIC START
• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• BRYAN RUBY BE FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO E OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• 'IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME FOR THIS:' BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OUT AS GAY
• DAVID DENSON MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER BASEBALL
• BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PROFSNAL BASEBALL PLAYER TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• BRYAN RUBY MAK HISTORY AS FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• THE FOTTEN HISTORY OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER OUT AS GAY

Bryan Ruby, who plays for the Salem-Keizer Volno Oregon, ma history Thursday as he publicly me out as gay —the first active profsnal baseball player to do so. “As a untry mic songwrer, at first I thought beg gay was a huge weakns, ” Ruby said.

FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO PLAYER, SEAN CONROY, GETS SHUTOUT HISTORIC START

Love songs don’t need to be gay or straight. In June, fensive end Carl Nassib of the Las Vegas Rairs announced he is gay, makg him the first active NFL player to do so.

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

Le Prokop also beme the first player unr an NHL ntract to e out publicly as gay. CARL NASSIB IS THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO COME OUT AS GAY.

BRYAN RUBY BE FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO E OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Here's a list of those the profsnal and llege baseball world proud enough to wear a rabow p wh their pstrip and e out as gay.

An outfielr for the Los Angel Dodgers and the Oakland A's between 1976 and 1979, Glenn Burke beme the first Major League Baseball player to e out as gay to teammat and owners while still active, though the team asked that he keep his sexualy secret om the public and he plied.

Two years later, he told Insi Sports that he believed he'd been let go om the Dodgers bee he was gay.

'IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME FOR THIS:' BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OUT AS GAY

He beme one of few proment gay athlet of the era after that, playg the Gay Gam 1982 and 1986. "They n't ever say now that a gay man n't play the majors, bee I'm a gay man and I ma , " he told The Philalphia Inquirer. @billybeanballThe only livg Major League Baseball veteran who has e out as gay, outfielr Billy Bean played for the Tigers, Dodgers, and Padr over a reer that spanned om 1987 to 1995.

DAVID DENSON MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER BASEBALL

He me out four years after retirg om the field, and wrote his 2003 book Gog the Other Way: Lsons From a Life and Out of Major League Baseball that the bullyg and homophobic world of baseball led him to walk away om pro ball. "Beg gay don't change anythg about the way I play or teract wh teammat, " he said a team statement released for Pri Month. @_DavidD_41A first baseman for the Helena Brewers, rhe Milwkee Brewers' rookie affiliate team Montana, David Denson 2015 beme the first player affiliated wh Major League Baseball to e out as gay.

BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PROFSNAL BASEBALL PLAYER TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

@DunngtonTylerA pcher for rookie and Class A teams affiliated wh the Cardals 2014, Dunngton told Outsports he left pro ball bee of homophobia. "I experienced both ach and players make remarks on killg gay people durg my time baseball, and each ment felt like a knife to my heart, " he said. "Lookg back, I wish I had told the whole world that I'm gay om day one, " he said.

BRYAN RUBY MAK HISTORY AS FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Durg an 11-year mor league reer, John Dillger would vis bear gathergs on the road but kept his gay sexualy secret up until his retirement 2005. @tampaMarkJWhen Mark Johnson and teammat won a champnship for the Universy of Tampa 1998, he still was nial about his gay sexualy, he told Outsports, but he beme more nfint over his adult life.

He cid to talk about beg gay and s impact on his game at age 35. When Tyson Lk, director of baseball operatns at the Universy of South Carola, cid on Natnal Comg Out Day 2016 to publicly reveal he was gay, he beme the first person Divisn I llege baseball to ever e out as LGBT. An umpire for Major League Baseball most notable for a rather famo row wh Pete Rose, Dave Pallone would eventually be ducted to the first class of the Natnal Gay and Lbian Sports Hall of Fame.

He later wrote his 1990 memoir Behd the Mask: My Double Life Baseball that he believed he was fired bee he was gay. A Major League Baseball umpire om 1986 to 1999, Dale Stt me out as gay to Referee Magaze 2014. In 2021, mor league baseball player, Bryan Ruby me out as gay.

THE FOTTEN HISTORY OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

At the time he was the only active baseball player to e out as gay.

-- Baseball history was ma Northern California we untry Thursday night when the sport's first active profsnal player to e out as gay pched a shutout before an enthiastic crowd that seemed more imprsed wh his performance than his role as a Conroy, 23, led the Sonoma Stompers to a 7-0 victory durg his first start wh the 22-man team that is part of the pennt Pacific Associatn of Baseball Clubs.

"The atmosphere at Arnold Field, the Stompers' 370-seat home field, was low-key, wh no obv signs was a historic game or even gay pri night at the ballpark -- except for the rabow-striped socks and arm warmers some players (but not Conroy) Stompers did not make a special announcement or ll attentn to the tone so Conroy uld foc on his pchg, general manager Theo Fightmaster the startg lp was announced, however, Conroy got the loust cheer. "We've had gay people here forever; 's not like 's a big al, " said Barry Bosshard, who along wh his wife, Lra, is puttg up Conroy and another player at their home durg the Stompers' 78-game season. Fightmaster says Conroy privately shared his sexual orientatn wh teammat and management before agreeg to e out publicly time for the team's gay pri night.