Billy Bean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the article on the current general manager of the Oakland Athletics, see: Billy Beane.
William Daro "Billy" Bean (born May 11, 1964 in Santa Ana, California) is a former Major League Baseball player who made news in 1999 when he made his homosexuality public.
Bean was an outfielder with 487 at bats with a .226 batting average in a career that lasted from 1987 through 1995: Detroit Tigers 1987-89, Los Angeles Dodgers 1989, San Diego Padres 1993-95. Bean joined the Detroit Tigers in 1987 tying an MLB record with four hits in his first major league game.
After acknowledging that he is gay, Bean went on to write a book, "Going the Other Way: Lessons from a life in and out of Major League Baseball".
Bean is only the second former major league player to reveal his homosexuality; the late Los Angeles Dodger and Oakland Athletic Glenn Burke is the only other ex-player to have acknowledged his homosexuality.
He is also a current panelist on GSN's I've Got A Secret revival, and a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.
[edit] External links
- Billy Bean.com
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
- Baseball Library page
