Eric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals. He has major league aspiratns, but his path has been much lonelier than he would prefer.
Contents:
- TEAMMAT' GAY JOK WERE SIGN OF ACCEPTANCE FOR MOR LEAGUE PCHER AFTER HE ME OUT
- GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER SAYS 'DISCRIMATN AND HATE HAS A VOICE BASEBALL' AFTER TAMPA BAY RAYS PLAYERS REFED TO WEAR PRI NIGHT UNIFORMS
TEAMMAT' GAY JOK WERE SIGN OF ACCEPTANCE FOR MOR LEAGUE PCHER AFTER HE ME OUT
Last year, Sean Conroy, a mor league pcher wh the Sonoma Stompers of the pennt Pacific Associatn of Baseball Clubs, me out publicly as gay, the first active pro baseball player to do so. While he was outwardly accepted, wasn't until teammat started jokg wh him about gay stuff that he knew he was tly one of them.
They signed him for his baseball abily and had no ia he was gay until Conroy me out prr to startg last June on the team's Pri Night. "That wasn’t a gay reference. " On still another night, [Fehlandt Lenti], the Stompers’ manager, yells, "At least lube up, at least give some K-Y" at one of the many umpir he thks is squeezg the durg a ld, wdy game Vallejo, I s the bullpen, listeng on a nversatn which the other relievers ask Sean about "signals, " or ways to tell whether someone is gay.
GAY PRO BASEBALL PLAYER SAYS 'DISCRIMATN AND HATE HAS A VOICE BASEBALL' AFTER TAMPA BAY RAYS PLAYERS REFED TO WEAR PRI NIGHT UNIFORMS
We have heard the same om many other gay athlet who have e out. Once teammat mocked their fashn sense or tried to play gay matchmaker or asked for hair re advice, the fort level grew dramatilly. We didn't realize he'd be the first openly gay player pro baseball history" — is wonrfully tailed and well worth your time.
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 bil and ugly, filled wh “every gay slur you uld thk of, ” Bach said. 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. 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.