19 Male Baseball Hero Who Came Out as Gay or Bisexual

Contents:

• THE FOTTEN HISTORY OF THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
• 9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY
• FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER OUT AS GAY
• FIRST OPENLY GAY PRO PLAYER, SEAN CONROY, GETS SHUTOUT HISTORIC START

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

In 1974, The Advote wrote letters to Major League Baseball teams askg to terview players “livg a gay liftyle. ” 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. Eventually, Burke unrstood himself to be gay, which me as a relief.

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.

9 BASEBALL PLAYERS WHO CAME OUT AS GAY

The fact that he didn’t fulfill the prevailg effemate stereotype of a gay man helped him rema illegible to his peers.

FIRST ACTIVE PRO BASEBALL PLAYER OUT AS GAY

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. 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.

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.

In 2021, there still has never been a sgle openly gay, active player the major leagu. The homophobia of men’s sports is well-documented, spe the fact that many anchis now hold Pri Nights and clare themselv LGBTQ+ alli.

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

Burke’s story is an example of the ways which sports have failed gay athlet. 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.

Sgled Out also spends very ltle time lookg to the iendship between Burke and Dodgers manager Losarda’s gay son, Tommy Losarda, Jr.