
Billy Bean was an outfielder. Between 1987 and 1995 being played for the Detroit Tigers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the San Diego Padres.
Billy was a good player but an average player – not a superstar. He bounced back and forth between the majors and minors.
But it was after his retirement from baseball that Billy Bean may have made his greatest contribution to the game, and to society. Almost 4 years after leaving the game, Bean came out as gay, only the second former major Leaguer to do so.
He quickly became an icon in the LGBTQ community, and by 2014 was named MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion. Within 2 years he was MLB senior vice president for diversity equity and inclusion.
I met Billy Bean in 2003 when he wrote a memoir called Going the Other Way. It was a very candid exploration of how a gay man fits into major professional sports.
So here now from 2003 Billy Bean.
Billy Bean died in 2024 from leukemia. He was 60.