NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees honored late Major League Baseball senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Billy Bean with a moment of silence before their doubleheader with the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
Bean, who became the second former Major League Baseball player to come out as gay in 1999, died Tuesday at 60 following a yearlong fight with acute myeloid leukemia.
“Really easy to talk to, really easy to be around,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Just a good guy, so definitely a sad day for our sport but I think also just the guy that I think in creating the position that the commissioner created for him several years ago, I think created more tolerance in our sport and understand that there’s a lot more similarities between us then when we always focus on the differences.
“Billy was definitely a guy that definitely helped bring people together and move the needle in that regard and he’s somebody that will be missed.”
The California native played in six big league seasons from 1987 to 1995 with the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. He debuted with a four-hit performance in 1987 for the Tigers and appeared in 272 games.
A former All-American outfielder at Loyola Marymount, Bean wrote a book titled “Going the Other Way” and was also a keynote speaker at many events. He publicly came out as gay in 1999, the second former major leaguer to do so after Glenn Burke.
Bean joined the commissioner’s office in 2014, when he was hired by former Commissioner Bud Selig to be MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion. He spent more than 10 years working for MLB, eventually being promoted to senior vice president.
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