19 Male Baseball Hero Who Came Out as Gay or Bisexual

Contents:

• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• 'IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME FOR THIS:' BRYAN RUBY BE ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OUT AS GAY
• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY
• NATNAL COMG OUT DAY: PUBLICLY GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER CREAT SUPPORT GROUP FOR OTHERS
• BRYAN RUBY BE FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO E OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO PLAYER, SEAN CONROY, GETS SHUTOUT HISTORIC START
• HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT
• BRYAN RUBY BE THE ONLY OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER
• THIS NVERSATN BROCKTON SPIRED PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY
• NOTHG MOR ABOUT IT: BRYAN RUBY MAK HISTORY AS ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OPENLY GAY
• NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS
• MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAYSHARHARE-SQUARE-83409MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAY
• GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER SAYS 'DISCRIMATN AND HATE HAS A VOICE BASEBALL' AFTER TAMPA BAY RAYS PLAYERS REFED TO WEAR PRI NIGHT UNIFORMS
• SALEM-KEIZER VOLNO BRYAN RUBY BE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

So, here we gonna talk about some of the bravt of all begs; as we know, Like other sports, homophobia is still prevalent baseball.

The prsure toward acceptg pri players baseball may be why homosexual players who e out as gay before or after retirement have a short reer. Later, terviewg wh SB natn outsports, he mentns hearg anti-gay slurs by teammat the locker room or gam felt like havg a knife the heart. Moreover, he later beme the first major league affiliated player and send active profsnal baseball player to e out as gay publicly.

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

Sce 2016, no homophobic slur has been chanted for the first time, and looks like MLB is dog s bt to change the perspective toward homosexual players. Yet 's Ruby's hidn part of his inty that he now believ n have the biggt impact, partially bee 's so foreign to the worlds of baseball and untry is a gay man, the only active profsnal baseball player at any level to be publicly out. " FOLLOW THE MONEY: MLB player salari and payrolls for every major league teamHis g out follows a summer which Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib and Nashville Predators prospect Le Prokop also me out as gay.

“As a untry mic songwrer, at first I thought beg gay was a huge weakns, ” said Ruby, who will be showsed the upg documentary, "Out Nashville. "It's not all super rosy, " Ruby ach om past generatns have been subtly homophobic, urgg him to keep his sexual orientatn a secret or to be wh a woman to keep up a ont.

Gehrig Richs, the Volno' assistant ach, said he imag teammat beg protective of Ruby if gay slurs were to persist once he's out publicly. Today, as the Los Angel Dodgers prepare to play the World Seri agast the Tampa Bay Rays, -founr Jim Buzski remds that the Dodgers anchise is a part of LGBTQ sports history as havg the only two MLB players who ever were public about beg gay. Not a “Hey world, I’m gay” way, but the sense that his teammat knew as did the management of the Los Angel Dodgers, Burke’s first team.

CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY

” A memorable moment “Out” occurs when is relled that the Dodgers — tryg to stifle mors that a popular player was gay — offered Burke $75, 000 to get married. The Dodgers and their manager, Tom Lasorda, prented a versn of themselv as a clean-cut, All-Amerin team and a flamboyantly gay player uld not be tolerated, pecially one who hung out wh Lasorda’s gay son. While baseball is still wag for s first openly gay active MLB player, Bean’s elevatn to a posn of thory the missner’s office is a sign that thgs have changed sce the days when Glenn Burke was lled a faggot by his manager.

Now that Google search leads directly to his own name, as Ruby beme the only active openly gay pro baseball player a g-out story wh USA TODAY Sports last month.

" Ruby said his support group isn't necsarily about pro or llege baseball players g out publicly and that 's heavily foced on mararie and mentorship given the fears and emotnal rigors of beg gay a sport where homophobia still persists. Bryan Ruby envisns a better world of cln and thenticy baseball, so he's sharg his story to be part of the is the latt profsnal male athlete this summer to talk so openly about beg gay by speakg wh USA Today Sports' Stt Gleon. His story follows those of Carl Nassib the NFL and Le Prokop the speaks openly about beg gayRuby, 25, plays for the Salem-Keizer Volno.

NATNAL COMG OUT DAY: PUBLICLY GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER CREAT SUPPORT GROUP FOR OTHERS

(Photo by Mchell Layton/Getty Imag)Billy Bean me out as gay after his retirement the 1990s and is now the league's vice print and special assistant to the missner.

"Dodgers player Glenn Burke was not open about his sexualy to the media, but his teammat knew he was gay when he played the 1970s. -- 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.

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

"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. "His goal has always been to be the first openly gay baseball player, so he was very much favor of tellg the story, of rryg that torch, " he Do, 67, attend the game wh 25 iends om a lol group for LGBT senrs and was one of three fans picked to throw out a first pch. "While this pcher who was unknown to me before your ll may not be a prospect for Major League Baseball, he certaly serv our applse, " Thorn, who had earned four sav as a closer for the Stompers before takg the mound as a starter for the first time, said he told his fay he was gay at age 16 and was open wh his high school, summer league and llege teams.

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

"It don't matter if he pch the big leagu or not; he's gog to bee a lear (tonight) many ways, " Bean 's history-makg start me at a watershed moment for gay rights, wh the U. Supreme Court schled to le any day now on whether to make same-sex marriage legal across the Vogler, 50, -owner of a lol pany that sponsors LGBT tours and events we untry, marveled om behd a fence not far om the tcher as he watched Conroy throw some of what turn out to be 140 grew up another part of Sonoma County and left as soon as he uld bee the anti-gay hostily was so high. As the MLB ntu embracg the LGBTQ muny, the players have also taken steps towards clivens wh Chigo Whe Sox pcher, Anrson Comás, g out as openly gay.

Although Anrson Comás is only the send openly gay MLB player to e out while actively wh an anizatn, the Chigo Whe Sox, he is far om the first openly gay player to play profsnal baseball. The former Detro Tigers outfielr me out as gay 1999, beg the send former MLB player to do so, followg the footsteps of Glenn Burke. "Former Player of The Day - Billy Bean - Outfielr, #Padr #Tigers #Dodgers #PlayerOfTheDay" - @GayBaseballFanIt has been a long road, but thanks to pneers such as Glenn Burke, Billy Bean, David Denson, and Anrson Comás, baseball is beg a more welg place for everyone.

September 2, 2021 (New York, NY) — Athlete Ally rpond today to news that Bryan Ruby has bee the only active pro baseball player to 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.

HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT

@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. 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. @_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 THE ONLY OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER

@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. 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. 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.

THIS NVERSATN BROCKTON SPIRED PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO E OUT AS GAY

Ruby helped found "Proud to Be Baseball, " a nonprof that aims to be a "by players, for players" support group for gay baseball players at the high school, llege and pro levels. Multiple female ach the NFL — cludg 49ers assistant Katie Sowers, who beme the league’s first openly gay ach 2017 — have e out recent years.

McCoy for The New York TimHis Sexualy Don’t Defe Him, but It Can Set Him ApartEric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals.

Three years earlier, while he was studyg journalism at Michigan State Universy, he had publicly e out as gay an say he wrote for the time of the say, he braced for a backlash, but nothg materialized. He worked his way up om ternships to full-time broadstg jobs, and while anyone wh an ter nnectn uld learn he was gay, nobody asked, and he did not say so aga publicly. It was paful at the time — the worst thg that had happened to him as a gay man, he said — but has reced far enough to his memory that did not e to md an hourlong terview about his experienc as a gay broadster.

NOTHG MOR ABOUT IT: BRYAN RUBY MAK HISTORY AS ONLY ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER TO BE OPENLY GAY

As far as Bach knows — and as far as many of his unterparts wh other teams are aware — there are no other openly gay broadsters the sport. McCoy for The New York TimBorn to BroadstLong before he knew he was gay, Bach knew he wanted to be a sports father was a ach, and a love of sports ran through the fay. ’”By the start of his sophomore year at Michigan State, Bach was ready to tell his parents that he was gay, tchg his father off guard but nfirmg what his mother had prevly assumed.

NORTH AMERI’S FOUR BIGGT PRO SPORTS LEAGU HAVE BEEN AROUND A BED 398 YEARS. THEY’VE HAD TWO OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYERS

He did each job to the bt of his abily, and his sexualy never me, he has found that there’s a difference between beg a gay man baseball and beg pletely fortable as one.

MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAYSHARHARE-SQUARE-83409MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAY

“I feel like that’s the burn a lot of gay people live wh — tryg to be perfect for straight people, ” he job requir equent teractn wh the players and the achg staff — addn to his duti as play-by-play announcer, Bach also is the ma public relatns ntact for the team — and he said he hadn’t fully relaxed any of them. Mrer/Frericksburg NatnalsThat feelg is somewhat “self-flicted, ” Bach said, but he believ the solutn is to brg more openly gay people to sports and create a safe environment for those who are already there but have felt necsary to hi their League Baseball has touted self as a place of clivy. Billy Bean, an openly gay former player, was named the league’s first ambassador for cln 2014 and has sce been promoted to senr vice print and special assistant to Commissner Rob Maned.

In Febary, Anrson Comás, a mor leaguer the Chigo Whe Sox anizatn, me out as gay wh a post on Instagram, and the announcement was met wh public support om his club and some people around the cints suggt there is more work to be done. The Boston Red Sox lled up a mor leaguer, Matt Dermody, who had posted an anti-gay msage on Twter 2021, and Anthony Bass, a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays, reposted a vio on social media that lled for boytts of L.

GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER SAYS 'DISCRIMATN AND HATE HAS A VOICE BASEBALL' AFTER TAMPA BAY RAYS PLAYERS REFED TO WEAR PRI NIGHT UNIFORMS

“Those of that are this very small mory sports have to keep on havg the nversatns, keep on workg really ick’ hard to earn your spot this space, ” he aspir to be a gay person at home a big-league booth. McCoy for The New York TimA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 27 of the New York edn wh the headle: A Gay Broadster Climbs the Ladr, But It’s Been Lonely.

SALEM-KEIZER VOLNO BRYAN RUBY BE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER

The Las Vegas Rairs fensive end is now jt one of two openly gay active players the history of the four biggt North Amerin sports leagu (the Natnal Football League, Natnal Basketball Associatn, Major League Baseball and the Natnal Hockey League).

Homophobic language is still a regular feature of playg on a boys’ sports team the US and abroad, Denison’s rearch shows – one of his studi found that more than half of the ice hockey and gby players he terviewed said they’d ed slurs.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

Regular exposure to slurs or stereotyp eventually rerc among players that their succs as an athlete is tied to an ia of masculy that exclus gay men, he said. Denison scribed what he lls a “cycle of excln” that begs when a boy hears ach or olr players e homophobic language and observ a “posive rponse” to that behavr – maybe they lgh at each other, or the ach don’t challenge them, he said.

That sends the msage that homophobic language is harmls and OK to e – and cements the assumptn that all members of the team are heterosexual. “We often fd that male ach ntue to e homophobic language and teach nformy to this tough mascule athlete inty that don’t really exist, ” he said. As a child, before Davis unrstood what meant to be LGBTQ, he was already absorbg the norms beg set around him durg practice – that “beg gay those walls was unsafe, that [he] would be danger.

Quali players necsary for succs football – domance, aggrsn and, ocsnally, vlence – are often associated wh homophobia and sexism, too.