NEW YORK — – The New York Yankees honored late Main League Baseball senior vp of variety, fairness and inclusion Billy Bean with a second of silence earlier than their doubleheader with the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
It was one in every of a variety of current tributes after Bean, who in 1999 turned the second former Main League Baseball participant to come back out as homosexual, died Tuesday at 60 almost a 12 months after he was recognized with acute myeloid leukemia.
The Cubs, Guardians and A’s additionally held moments of silence.
“Very easy to speak to, very easy to be round,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned. “Only a good man, so undoubtedly a tragic day for our sport, however I believe additionally simply the man that I believe in creating the place that the commissioner created for him a number of years in the past, I believe created extra tolerance in our sport and perceive that there is much more similarities between us than after we all the time give attention to the variations.
“Billy was undoubtedly a man that undoubtedly helped convey individuals collectively and transfer the needle in that regard, and he is any person that can be missed.”
The California native performed in six massive league seasons from 1987 to 1995 with the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. He debuted with a four-hit efficiency in 1987 for the Tigers and appeared in 272 video games.
A former All-American outfielder at Loyola Marymount, Bean wrote a guide titled “Going the Different Approach” and was additionally a keynote speaker at many occasions. He publicly got here out as homosexual in 1999, the second former main leaguer to take action, after Glenn Burke.
Bean joined the commissioner’s workplace in 2014, when he was employed by former commissioner Bud Selig to be MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion. He spent greater than 10 years working for MLB, ultimately being promoted to senior vp.
Data from The Related Press was used on this report.
