Former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star pitcher Bob Tewksbury has voiced his support of same-sex marriage rights in New Hampshire. He and his wife, Laura, live in Concord, N.H., where Tewksbury was born. They have joined Standing Up for New Hampshire Families to stop the state legislature from removing same-sex marriage rights in the Granite State. [...]
Posts under ‘MLB’
Advocate’s list of 2011′s top news lacks major sports stories
First let me say that we love our friends at The Advocate. The iconic gay-news publication has done great work for decades. But I remember when we were presented with our first NLGJA Award years ago the presenter said it was in part because we were not afraid to criticize the media’s handling of gay-sports [...]
Los Angeles Dodgers release an It Gets Better video
The Los Angeles Dodgers have released a terrific It Gets Better video that features several players and manager Don Mattingly. This video is even more noteworthy coming from an organization whose longtime ex-manager Tommy Lasorda never acknowledged that his son Tommy Jr. (“Spunky”) was gay and died of AIDS. Watch: Share on Facebook
Moment #8: John Rocker spews homophobia to ‘Sports Illustrated’
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Baseball, 1999. When Jeff Pearlman was assigned by Sports Illustrated in 1999 to write a story about Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John Rocker, he was expecting to pen an image-rehabilitation article. Pearlman told Outsports this week: I knew he was something of [...]
New York Mets hosting gay night Sept. 26
When I hosted the first LGBT Community Night with the New York Mets in 2004, it took a lot of convincing for them to open the doors for the event. One of their big concerns was how to handle a transgender person using the restroom. Now the team itself is reviving the LGBT Community night [...]
All of a sudden, Red Sox and Rays give us a race to watch in September
Just a couple weeks ago, baseball’s talking heads were repeating the same line: “What a boring September. All the races are over.” I guess the Tampa Bay Rays never got that memo. When they woke up on Sept. 3 they were 9.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the AL wild card position; They’re [...]
Moment #25: Mike Piazza announces, ‘I’m not gay. I’m heterosexual.’
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Baseball, 2002. In the June/July 2002 issue of Details magazine, then-New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine said he believed baseball was ready for an openly gay player. The New York Post, as they so often do, ran with it and wondered [...]
Moment #32: ‘Out’ magazine editor Brendan Lemon reveals relationship with MLB player
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Baseball, 2001. When Out magazine published an editor’s letter by editor Brendan Lemon in May 2001, it caused a stir in the sports world that no gay publication had caused before. Lemon’s letter revealed a relationship he was having with a [...]
Tampa Bay Rays say ‘It Gets Better’ with Johnny Damon, Joe Maddon, others
The Tampa Bay Rays have joined the growing list of MLB teams to create an ‘It Gets Better’ video. Included in the video are players Johnny Damon (right), BJ Upton, Sam Fuld, Sean Rodriguez (who sends a message in Spanish) and manager Joe Maddon. Damon talks about being teased because he had a stuttering problem: [...]
Seattle Mariners ‘It Gets Better’ video features Seahawk, Storm and Sounder
The ‘It Gets Better’ videos produced by Major League Baseball teams keep breaking new ground. The most recent is the Seattle Mariners video, which includes players from four Seattle-based pro sports teams. Mariners relief pitcher Brandon League and infielder Brendan Ryan are there, but so are Seattle Seahawk wide receiver Mike Williams, MLS players Mike Fucito and [...]
Moment #55: Jim Bouton’s ‘Ball Four’ TV show includes gay ballplayer
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Baseball, 1976. Major League pitcher Jim Bouton had caused quite a stir with his 1970 book, Ball Four. The book chronicled his 1969 season in the Major Leagues and brought to the public eye the rampant womanizing and drug use taking [...]
Worst call ever? Umpire blows game-ending call in Pirates-Braves
Last night the Pirates and Braves played 19 innings…that ended with what looks to me like one of the worst officiating calls ever in pro sports. It’s one thing to miss a 90 mph strike or get it wrong when a pile of bodies bury one another at a goal line. But to miss the [...]
Phillies to say “It Gets Better” (finally)
In the end, it seems DeSean Jackson’s stupidity helped do some good after all. I was pleased to see that MLB teams began to create their own “It Gets Better” videos to help combat bullying. The San Francisco Giants were the first to complete theirs, followed by the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox. In [...]
‘Out: The Glenn Burke Story’ to get national release on Versus in August
Many have bemoaned the fact that the Emmy-nominated documentary ‘Out: The Glenn Burke Story‘ has only been aired in Northern California. Now Versus, best-known for their NHL broadcasts, is stepping up to air the film nationally on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at 10pmET. From the Versus press release: “Out. The Glenn Burke Story” tells the dramatic [...]
Gay Softball World Series invites White Sox Gordon Beckham and Jerry Reinsdorf to attend
Local organizers of NAGAAA‘s Gay Softball World Series have invited Chicago White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham (right) and team owner Jerry Reinsdorf to the Gay Softball World Series in late August. Beckham previously “apologized” for scrawling “Getz is gay” in the infield of a recent matchup with the Kansas City Royals. From the Windy [...]