There
are two gay umpires in Major League Baseball. Maybe more,
but at least two, says
Tyler Hoffman, a gay former minor league umpire who has
had a face-to-face conversation with one and traded emails
with the other.
Neither is
out, nor expected to come out anytime soon.
"One is a guy who has been around for a while; one is a
relative newcomer," said Hoffman, who umpired in the minor
leagues from 1996-99 and retired after spring training in
2000.
Hoffman has spoken with the veteran umpire. "His whole thing
is, I've been around for a while; the league respects me;
other umpires respect me; guys pretty much have it figured
out by now, so there is no need for me to actually come out
and say ‘I'm gay.' He doesn't feel like he actually needs to
publicize it.
"That's his point of view, though I think it would be really
beneficial to the community and sports in general if he did
come out, but that's my perspective."
Hoffman said he has only chatted online with the younger gay
major league umpire, and the umpire claims he "absolutely,
no way in hell" will he ever come out while active.
Hoffman, now 31, a financial advisor living in Vancouver
with his partner of eight years, Randy Lauzon, said there
were five gay umpires during his time in the minors, "but I
didn't know they were gay until I left the game."
And there are still some active gay minor league umpires, he
said.
"They're there," Hoffman said.
Hoffman umpired Class-A and Double-A baseball in the
Arizona, Northwest, Midwest, California and Southern
Leagues.
"The first three years that I was out of baseball, yeah, I
really missed it and I really second-guessed myself (about
retiring)," he said. "But it's been almost seven years now,
so those thoughts don't enter my mind as much as they used
to."
Hoffman came out to his parents at 18 or 19, just before
going to Umpire School. Five years later, after baseball, he
came out to most of his friends.
"I tried to keep [my sexuality] as quiet as possible for
those five years, just to make sure that the chance of
advancement wasn't going to get tossed away [because of my
sexuality]," Hoffman said. "There was absolutely no way I
would have been out [while umpiring]. I was completely
frickin' terrified [about being discovered to be gay].
Hoffman said he decided to leave the game in 2000 because
there was not much opportunity for advancement and, he just
re-assessed his life.
"I literally walked on the field one night and said to
myself, ‘OK, Tyler, is everything you're sacrificing in your
life worth the three hours of magic on the field, being on
the road 200 days a year, living out of a suitcase, knowing
that nothing was really going to change?' And the answer
was, no."
However, Hoffman contemplated a ground-breaking 2000 season,
since he had started dating Lauzon the previous fall.
"When I went back in 2000, I was going to do the full season
and be completely out, just to prove a point. But then I
thought, ‘Is it really worth it?'" Hoffman said. "The reason
I could have done that was, I had nothing to lose."
There
are two gay umpires in Major League Baseball. Maybe more,
but at least two, says