Glenn Burke, MLB's 1st openly gay player, spoke to TODAY's Bryant Gumbel 1982

Contents:

• CELEBRATG LGBTQ SPORTS HISTORY: THE ONLY MLB TEAM WH PLAYERS WHO HAVE E OUT AS GAY
• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• THE FOTTEN HISTORY OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
• HOW MANY OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYERS HAVE BEEN THERE? HONORG LGBTQ INS OF BASEBALL ON PRI NIGHT
• THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UMPIRE REFLECTS ON G OUT, COORS FIELD AND THE ‘ROBO-UMPIRE’
• METS WELE OPENLY GAY BILLY BEAN TO SPRG TRAG
• OPENLY GAY MLB UMPIRE, DALE STT, ANNOUNC RELEASE OF AUTOBGRAPHY
• WHY HAVE THE DODGERS BEEN SO SLOW TO HONOR GLENN BURKE, MLB’S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER?
• DODGERS FALLY HONOR FIRST OPENLY GAY MLBER ON PRI NIGHT
• WHY HAVE THE DODGERS BEEN SO SLOW TO HONOR GLENN BURKE, MLB'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER?
• MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAYSHARHARE-SQUARE-673043MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAY
• FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO PLAYER, SEAN CONROY, GETS SHUTOUT HISTORIC START
• FIRST OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYER GLEN BURKE FALLY CELEBRATED
• GLENN BURKE, 1ST OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYER, IS SHUNNED NO MORE — 40 YEARS AFTER G OUT
• VENTURA: MLB WOULD ACCEPT OPENLY GAY PLAYER

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

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. ” 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.

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.

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

In stagg their nth annual LGBTQ+ Pri Night, they will celebrate their former outfielr — and the first major leaguer to have e out as gay — on Friday durg their seri wh the closg the circle 44 years later. Lasorda Jr., who was known by many as Spunky, was also gay and died of AIDS plitns 1991, though his father publicly nied his son’s sexualy and the e of his ath.

”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn B, Page 7 of the New York edn wh the headle: The Dodgers Offer a Belated Embrace To a Player Shunned for Beg Gay.

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

” The requt “was meant to jolt the baseball tablishment to acknowledgg that there were ed gay men playg the game, ” Andrew Maraniss wr his new book, Sgled Out: The Te Story of Glenn Burke. Along wh beg the first openly gay man to have played the MLB — he me out 1982, after leavg the league — Burke and his teammate Dty Baker are often creded wh ventg the high five. Yet his acplishments were largely fotten or tentnally obscured, whether by a homophobic society that had no e for a gay athlete or by a baseball anchise that wanted to claim cred for the thgs Burke had done for the team whout acknowledgg the prence of an out gay man their Sgled Out, Maraniss do his bt to pture the tragedy and weight of Burke’s story.

He signed a Mor League ntract wh the Los Angel Dodgers his first uple of years the mors, Burke didn’t yet know that he was gay, jt that he was “different” om his teammat.

He also spent the off-season prowlg the gay bars of the Castro San Francis, across the Bay om his hometown of Maraniss explas his book, was unheard of for profsnal male athlet to be gay at that time. The other players were so far removed om gay culture, and so unspectg that one of their teammat might possibly be gay, that many of them simply missed the ample evince of Burke’s inty. His teammat were fur and, after he was gone, the team traer nfirmed Burke had been trad bee Campanis and manager Tommy Losarda didn’t want any gay men the Oakland, Burke stggled to fd his groove after an jury.

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

Followg one 1979 game at the Oakland Colism when A’s fans were yellg homophobic slurs at Burke the outfield, he chased down the heckler the nurse and grabbed him around the neck.

Unbeknownst to Burke, however, manager Billy Mart was vilently homophobic and sent him down to the mors so he wouldn’t “ntamate” the rt of the team.

THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UMPIRE REFLECTS ON G OUT, COORS FIELD AND THE ‘ROBO-UMPIRE’

He would never aga play a major league game, nor would he hold a regular beg forced out of the A’s, Burke remaed his Bay Area home and relished the opportuny to live an openly gay life whout worryg about whether would get back to the prs or jeopardize his baseball reer.

But he had a ntrollg and emotnally abive partner who spent most of the money Burke had ma— a partner who had also prsured Burke for years to e out publicly as gay, even when might have st him his partner, Michael Smh, fally nvced Burke to e out a 1982 article the magaze Insi Sports. Burke was a proud Black, gay man, so the -group language and cultural referenc he ed sound awkward om the voice of an thor who shar neher inty wh his subject. Even the gay and Black history portns of the text, which are fold for ntext about the world that Burke habed, read like the Spark Not versn of gay and Black history— the basics you uld get om readg a Wikipedia page.

METS WELE OPENLY GAY BILLY BEAN TO SPRG TRAG

The elr Losarda’s homophobic treatment of Burke had larger implitns: the longtime Dodgers manager nied that his own son was gay, even after he died of AIDS, and remaed silent about HIV, the vis that killed both Burke and Losarda, Jr.

Hopefully, one day, Burke’s story will be told by a wrer who is Black and/or gay, who n brg necsary texture and perspective to his important story. 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.

OPENLY GAY MLB UMPIRE, DALE STT, ANNOUNC RELEASE OF AUTOBGRAPHY

"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. On the rponse he’s gotten om the gay muny after umpirg the majors for more than three s and penng a memoir “The Umpire is Out: Callg the Game and Livg My Te Self”: SCOTT: The people I’ve talked to on this book tour, tellg me my story changed their life, my story gave them the urage to do this, or … this one lbian uple San Francis, she was, I gave her a big hug bee she said, “You don’t know how much hearg about you a game I love …” and that kd of stuff.

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. 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.

WHY HAVE THE DODGERS BEEN SO SLOW TO HONOR GLENN BURKE, MLB’S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER?

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. “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. “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.

DODGERS FALLY HONOR FIRST OPENLY GAY MLBER ON PRI NIGHT

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. Daniel Murphy ma some ments Tuday about Billy Bean, an openly gay Major League Baseball executive who spent the day wh the New York Mets at sprg trag Port St.

WHY HAVE THE DODGERS BEEN SO SLOW TO HONOR GLENN BURKE, MLB'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER?

Bean, the league's first ambassador of cln, is gog om mp to mp providg guidance and trag for players and others orr to support those the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny. He me out as gay 2014 beg the MLB’s first openly gay umpire and one of the first openly gay officials the five major profsnal sports leagu the USA.

MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAYSHARHARE-SQUARE-673043MOR LEAGUER SOLOMON BAT OUT AS GAY

The book will also clu a personal look to Stt’s life growg up and his ternal stggle of havg to balance beg gay while pretendg to be straight for the sake his reer. On a Florida beach vatn wh my fay last week, I was unr orrs not to check my phone too I sneaked a peak last Friday afternoon and was heartened to see a tweet om a Bay Area sportswrer sharg the news that the Oakland A’s have renamed their annual Pri Night after Glenn Burke, the former Berkeley High baseball and basketball standout who went on to bee the first openly gay Major League Baseball player wh the Dodgers and A’s the late is a well-served posthumo honor for Burke, regnizg his unique ntributn to the game and the endurg signifince of his story. He is even creded wh ventg the high-five as a first openly gay major leaguer was a charismatic rerve on a great Dodgers team, and yet the anchise rarely acknowledg him.

The team’s marketg partment acknowledged receivg but did not rpond to several qutns for this lumn, cludg qutns askg for any exampl of the team’s acknowledgment of Burke that I may have lookg at the team’s long history of well-executed Pri Nights and support for LGBTQ anizatns and , there has been somethg nspicuoly missg: a meangful nnectn to Glenn Burke and the team’s place gay history.

And the Dodgers certaly serve cred for their long history of reachg out to gay fans, while the Texas Rangers, for example, have never held a Pri Night. This is a shame, bee as one of the most high-profile anizatns all of sports, the Dodgers uld effect change, a game that needs , if they led an hont nversatn on Burke’s experience as a gay major leaguer. There are no openly gay players the Major Leagu Williams told me somethg else when I asked him about squarg his mment to progrs wh the racism his universy’s past.

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

It’s time for the Dodgers to take ownership of the homophobia that prematurely end Glenn Burke’s days Los Angel so that the anizatn n move beyond , stake s claim to history by centerg Burke’s experience, and lead the way for LGBTQ rights baseball. 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.

@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.

FIRST OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYER GLEN BURKE FALLY CELEBRATED

"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. @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. The Los Angel Dodgers are fally honorg Glenn you don’t know Burke’s story, you should, as he was first MLB player to e out as gay to teammat and ownership, somethg he did while playg back the 1970s. Learship om both clubs ed Burke profsnal and personal strife durg his time the league, cludg a Dodgers GM attemptg to bribe him to marryg a woman, but only one club has sce honored his legacy and the urage took to e out as gay the MLB the late 1970s.

GLENN BURKE, 1ST OPENLY GAY MLB PLAYER, IS SHUNNED NO MORE — 40 YEARS AFTER G OUT

The A’s were the club that ultimately phed him out of the sport, after new manager Billy Mart me on 1980, troduced Burke to his new team members wh a homophobic slur and promptly sent him to the mor leagu followg a knee jury and then released him om his ntract. ” The A’s were also the club to help him out fancially after his AIDS diagnosis, to ve his brother to throw out the first pch at their 2015 Pri Night, to rename their team’s annual Pri Night after Burke, and to pledge Pri Night ticket profs to the Glenn Burke Wellns Clic at the Oakland LGBTQ while the gtur don’t necsarily make up for the homophobic and bigoted treatment he received om teammat, fans, and executiv, ’s an effort, at least, to right past Dodgers, on the other hand, are long overdue acknowledgg Burke’s urage and legacy. Per the New York Tim, many believed that the reason the Dodgers sent Burke to Oakland was a rult of his iendship wh manager Tommy Lasorda’s son, who was also gay, and whose father publicly nied his sexualy up to and followg the younger Lasorda’s ath, which was also ed by AIDS plitns.

”In a sport where no active major league player has ever e out as gay, and only one former player bis Burke has (Billy Bean, the MLB’s Ambassador for Incln), the honorg of Burke’s memory and life holds real signifince both baseball history and the sport’s current culture, as several MLB players have felt fortable wh exprsg open homophobia as recently as 2015 (and, of urse, there’s the Thom Brennaman cint 2020).

And the Dodgers certaly serve cred for their long history of reachg out to gay fans, while the Texas Rangers, for example, have never held a Pri appears that the Dodgers have not yet reached the renciliatn pot wh Glenn Burke’s story, tthful or otherwise.

VENTURA: MLB WOULD ACCEPT OPENLY GAY PLAYER

It’s time for the Dodgers to take ownership of the homophobia that prematurely end Glenn Burke’s days Los Angel so that the anizatn n move beyond , stake s claim to history by centerg Burke's experience, and lead the way for LGBTQ rights baseball.

Augt 10th, 2022SAN DIEGO -- Former Giants Mor League pcher Solomon Bat me out publicly as gay an Instagram post on Tuday, also announcg that he had been released by the anizatn. ”Bat is the send Mor League player to e out as gay, jog former Brewers farmhand David Denson, who beme the first openly gay player affiliated baseball 2015. No active Major League player has e out as gay, though Billy Bean, who now works as MLB’s senr vice print for diversy, equy and cln, and Glenn Burke both me out after their playg reers end.

-- 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.