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Wednesday Morning Man: Billy Bean!
There’s a lot of attention being paid right now to NBA player Jason Collins for coming out as gay.
Among those being interviewed are the handful of major league athletes who came out as gay after their playing days were over and it is still a shockingly low number.
Today’s Morning Man, Billy Bean, is one of the few.
Now 48, handsome Billy came out of the closet in 1999 with a heart-breaking memoir Going the Other Way.
Billy paid a heavy price for being in the closet.
When he was playing for the San Diego Padres, his lover died unexpectedly. Billy could not mourn him for fear of being outed and it took an emotional toll that resulted in his baseball career ending prematurely after 12 years in the major leagues.
In an interview I did with Billy in late 2011, I asked him if he thought a player in one of the major sports would ever come out during his playing career.
Billy said then: ‘It’s going to take maybe just one special guy who can really move that ball forward. We’ll see.’
Looks like Jason Collins is that special guy.
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
James says:
That’s nice and all, Greg, but he should have come out while he was still active.
Greg Hernandez says:
He came out when he was damned ready, as any gay person has the right to.
Robin Q says:
Thanks for stating the obvious, Greg! That s one of the reasons that I love reading your column every morning!