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They're Not All
Ignorant Fools How One Hilarious Broadway Play Stepped into Foul Territory to Make Its Point
By
Jason Page As an openly gay male athlete and die-hard professional sports fan, the words I am about to write could very well be considered blasphemous. The Broadway play “Take Me Out” trounced all over everything I believe and know about the majority of professional baseball players en-route to winning the Tony Award for best Broadway Play. I make this statement while at the same time telling you that I’m not a critic. In fact I may have been the only person in America that thoroughly enjoyed the early '90s movie “Rocketeer”. If you’re scratching your head in bewilderment, it’s all right. You’re certainly not alone. I also have only seen a handful of Broadway plays. This by no means makes me a connoisseur of stage. But as an avid sports “geek” and a guy who has had a few “cups of coffee” around professional baseball, I know an unhealthy stereotype when I see one. Writer Richard Greenberg tries to make the minority of baseball players look like the overwhelming majority. I want to tell you about some experiences I have never really shared with anyone. They were my first experiences with professional athletes. They came when I was just 16. It was 1994 and the New Haven Ravens were playing their first season of minor-league baseball in the Double-A Eastern League. This was my first venture into the locker rooms of pro athletes, long before the first microphone and shortly before my first kiss with another man. My sexual curiosity was certainly starting to take hold of me, but that’s another story, for a much later time. The one thing I was certain of, at that age, was that I wanted to be around this game for the rest of my life. I had dreams of someday playing, but knew my ability could never match that of the guys I was watching. I met many players that year, many of who are playing in the Major Leagues today. There was the young shortstop of the Albany-Colony Yankees who many projected to be the next superstar for baseball's most storied franchise. Being in the locker rooms with these guys day after day gave my first glimpses into the psyche of the professional baseball player. Their superstitions, their passion for the game and the lengths they would go to fulfill their lifelong dreams. In that season, I can’t remember coming across more than one or two players that I would classify as “brain dead.” At most they were the extreme minority. In 1998, I had the opportunity to cover some Baltimore Orioles at the Ballpark at Camden Yards. These would be my first experiences in Major League Baseball locker rooms. This time I wasn’t shining shoes, I was conducting interviews with some of the game's biggest and brightest stars. That same shortstop from Albany that I mentioned earlier was now a budding superstar. That classy individual sat with me and, after a quick reminder, suddenly remembered that I was the batboy from several years’ back. The fame had not clouded his memory, and it still hasn’t to this day. There were the likes of Cal Ripken, Chuck Knoblauch and even Darryl Strawberry. Despite Darryl’s often sad hang-ups, he was still one of the finest gentlemen I had the opportunity to speak with. Few and far between were the players that could barely speak English or uttered incoherent sentences. Yet, if you saw Greenberg’s Broadway hit, you would think that is the norm. In 2000, I took my
first full-time job with a professional sports team. I was the public
address announcer and sometimes radio announcer for the same New Haven
Ravens team that I served with as a batboy. All the faces, with a few
exceptions, had changed. My life had changed; I was now out of the
closet and openly gay. While I wasn’t a gay player in the locker room
on a day-by-day basis, I was a gay man who was actively involved with
the players on a pro baseball team. I faced the sort of harassment
that I guess I had expected. The front office of the Seattle Mariners
Double-A affiliate knew of the harassment but did little to stop it. I
sure as hell never let it stop me. Richard Greenberg touts himself as an openly gay baseball fan, and while I can say that I found myself laughing at just about every one-liner in this play, I can also say that I found myself disappointed with the man’s limited insight to the pro baseball player. It’s important to me that people know and understand that the John Rockers and Todd Jones of the world are scarce. The all-world shortstops of the game, the Derek Jeters and many others that share his charming personality, are the majority. Greenberg may have hit a home run when he won the Tony, but he struck out badly when he missed that point.
Jason Page is currently an on-air personality on
Sirius Satelite Radio's GLBT Radio Stream, OutQ. It is the nation's
first talk-radio station entirely dedicated to the Gay Community. Page
works as an Associate Producer and personality on both the Wayne Besen
Show (7-10 a.m. Monday-Friday) and the Michaelangelo Signorile Show
(1-4 p.m. Monday-Friday). Page has also worked as a play-by-play work
in minor-league baseball. June 24, 2003 |