Mets Welcome Gay Ex-Outfielder Billy Bean to Camp as Gay Advocate

Completely irrelevant photo selected by me

Major League Baseball General Manager Sandy Alderson invested in making clubhouses more inclusive, tolerant places, but The Wall Street Journals asks if other teams follow Mets’ lead?

Jared Diamond reports:

The story of Glenn Burke, the first major-league player ever to publicly come out as gay, haunts Sandy Alderson to this day. During Alderson’s tenure as general manager of the Oakland Athletics, Burke lived on the streets of San Francisco, ravaged by drugs and crime. Alderson described him as “an outcast,” effectively excommunicated from the baseball world in part because of his sexual orientation. Mets manager Terry Collins, who roomed with Burke in 1976 and 1977 while in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, called Burke a “troubled kid.” At the insistence of a member of Alderson’s staff, the A’s reached out to Burke on multiple occasions in the hopes of helping him repair his life. The gesture failed: Burke died in 1995 of complications from AIDS. He was 42. “That can’t happen,” said Alderson, who now serves as the GM of the Mets. “Never should have happened. It can’t happen again.” Alderson took a step toward living up to those words this week by inviting Billy Bean, Major League Baseball’s newly appointed ambassador for inclusion, to spend time at the Mets’ spring training camp. Bean played parts of six major-league seasons, retired in 1995, and came out as gay in 1999. He addressed all 30 of the league’s GMs in November and said Alderson approached him immediately about visiting with the team. 

Keep reading HERE.

And from the sounds of it, Bean couldn't have gotten there soon enough. Second baseman Daniel Murphy, who I used to think was hot, told The Daily News this about Bean's visit:

“I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him. I don’t think the fact that someone is a homosexual should completely shut the door on investing in them in a relational aspect. Getting to know him. That, I would say, you can still accept them but I do disagree with the lifestyle, 100%.”

No, you can't "disagree" with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. (That's why it's called a fact.) And one other thing: What the f**k are you talking about?

Out at ... Last!

MLB umpire Dale Scott comes out as gay in quietest way possible 

Twenty-five years after Dave Pallone had sex with every boy in West Hollywood came out of the closet, MLB umpire Dale Scott used a photo with his husband in a small magazine to publicly acknowledge his sexuality for the first time.

Kudos!

Read how Major League Baseball has been treating him since HERE.

Home Run

We were promised a major LGBT-related announcement from the world of baseball yesterday, and here it is: Billy Bean has been hired by Major League Baseball as ambassador for inclusion, and will lead its gay inclusion program! Read HERE.

For the uninitiated, Bean was an outfielder in the late '80s and '90s who came out as gay in 1999, four years after his retirement. He has been a gay media darling thanks to his all-American good looks, and has been selling real estate in the Miami area for years. This seems like a perfect fit for him.