Finding Your Place in a Man's Sport

When I started this post, my idea was to explore the patricentric aspects of the game of baseball.  Baseball, like many sports, is and always has been a boys club; a strict no girls allowed sport.  But I realized that along with lack of acceptance for women, the MLB has an obvious lack of acceptance for homosexuals, and this became my focus and purpose of the post.  There are 30 major league baseball teams, all with a 25 man roster, that makes for 750 major league baseball players.  Most studies say that one out of every ten men are gay; yet there is not one single "out" player currently in the league.  It makes me wonder why this is, I don't feel there could be any possible way that there is not a single gay player in the entire sport, right?  My wonder is why players decide not to put their true self forward.  Are players afraid of the reaction they might get from fellow players, coaches, and fans?  Professional sports in general have always leaned more toward the masculine side.  But why is this?  Especially in our day and age, when we have seemed to have made huge strides to progressed beyond stereotypes and judgments.  A disappointing fact that I learned from my research for this post, is that baseball has not seemed to have progressed in the area of homophobia.  I was able to find a few articles on only two stories of homosexuals coming out as professional players in baseball.

First off, during my research, I found the story of Billy Bean.  Bean was a player with an average career, playing eight years in the Major Leagues from 1987-1995.  Bean came out as homosexual to the public in 1999, years after his baseball career had ended.  He is currently the only openly gay player that is alive today, and is only one of two in baseball history.  In 2003, Bean wrote the book Going the Other Way.  The book is a memoir of Bean's struggle with his secret life; the book was written in the hope that others players would not have to face their hardship alone.  Billy Bean walked away from his career in baseball due to his personal torment of holding his secret; he faced the death of a lover in silence, even playing the day after his passing because he was too afraid to ask for a leave.  Bean's is an inspirational story; he found his happiness, but he could not do it while playing Major League baseball.  This is a sad and discouraging fact.  Billy Bean could have had a much longer career in baseball, opening the door for other players to feel comfortable in their own cleats.

Along with Billy Bean being an openly gay baseball player is Glenn Burke.  Burke was the first ever player to be out to his fellow players and his team owners.  Although Burke was sure that his fellow teammates did not care about his personal life, he received an offer from Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis who would pay for a honeymoon if Burke agreed to get married, hiding his homosexuality.  Later, Burke would anger manager Tommy Lasorda by becoming friends with his estranged son, who was also a homosexual.  The Dodgers would eventual trade Burke to the Oakland Athletics, where manager Billy Martin would call him a "faggot" in front of the rest of his teammates.  The A's would go on to later send him back to the minors, ending his contract in 1979.  Glenn Burke felt that his career was forced to fall short, but he felt that he had changed the game forever.  The rest of Burkes life would be filled with drug addiction and eventual homelessness, leading to his death in 1995 due to AIDS complications.  Who knows, maybe if Burkes sexuality had been more widely accepted, he also could have had a much longer and productive career.  Maybe his life would not have been so awful?

Although Burkes story ended in a tragic way, he left us with these inspiring words:

“They can't ever say now that a gay man can't play in the majors, because I'm a gay man and I made it." - Glenn Burke

You can learn more about the story of Glenn Burke through the film "Out: The Glenn Burke Story"

Sadly, these are the only stories that I was able to search out about gay players in baseball.  Out of every player to ever play the game on a professional level, Burke and Bean are the only two to tell their truths, to share their secrets, to try and live in their own skin.  Unfortunately, there is still a misogynistic aspect that is attached to the game of baseball; there is still the "manly" aspect of this sport.  From the outcome of my research, it has become apparent to me that players obviously still do not feel comfortable with making their sexual preference known.  Perhaps the issue of sexuality is not a top priority for many players?  But I really don't think that that is the case.  Being someone who grew up playing the game of baseball, I know first hand that there is little tolerance for anyone who does not fit the "norm".  The pressure starts at the early age; this pressure to act like a man, play like a man, become a "real" man.  It is no wonder that homosexual players are not comfortable with being who they really are.  In sports, boys are told to "man up", and if they can't cope; they are told they won't make it in the majors.  Someone like Glen Burke struggled through out his whole life, and obviously faced many demons, then he was practically forced out of the League.  What kind of message does this send to young players?  It seems to me like a message that says: "If you are different, you are not welcome."

For me, it all comes down to what type of sport you would like to support.  A sport where players are judged strictly on performance; or a sport where players are judged on sexual preference.  I think we need to remember that there was a time when blacks were not allowed to play in the Major Leagues.  We need to remember to embrace change.  We need to remember that in the end, this is just a game.  There is no room for racism and homophobia in this great sport.  This is entertainment, plain and simple.