Category Archives: gay ballplayers
Read me on Outsports
My just-published article for Outsports imagines the impact of a real-life Ricky Fontana. I describe how my novel—or an actual gay ballplayer—could expose the weakness of some bad ideas just as a clever pitcher cuts down his opponent. Stupidity strikes out. This article arrives on the cusp of trying times for baseball. In a few [...]
Ten Years Later
He’s been waiting. He thinks about the arrival every day as he aims a tennis ball at the square painted on the side of the garage. His classmates call him funny. His father looks at him askance. He knows he’s different, but he can’t explain why because he’s nine years old. He’s also too young [...]
We Can Be Heroes
Hiding on Wall Street. Living in secret in med school. And, of course, shunned from the locker room. Don’t worry, gay men! A career long off limits to you is now LGBT-friendly. You can be a super hero. The Green Lantern is gay: You might think those other professions are still unfriendly to openly gay [...]
When Yes Means Maybe
Check out this must-read survey from Outsports.com on the broadening tolerance of NFL players for gay teammates. Surely athletes are following the nationwide trend towards accepting the rights of homosexuals. Still, I wonder if such surveys are self-affirming because they offer participants an opportunity for self-affirmation. Even an ardent homophobe might lie for the sake [...]
A Short History of Gay Baseball Players
The list of openly gay Major League baseball players begins and ends with two names: Billy Bean and Glenn Burke. Neither had a long or successful career, though playing as outcasts surely stifled their skills. Each dealt differently with his sexuality. Bean stayed in the closet throughout his career. Burke was frank with teammates about [...]
