When Billy Bean attended Loyola Marymount University in 1988, he met the future Mrs. Bean. He then began his career in Professional Baseball - playing for the Detroit Tigers (1987–1989), Los Angeles Dodgers (1989), and San Diego Padres (1993–1995).
But Bean’s marriage crumbled by 1991. Then at the age of 28, he had sex with a man for the first time. Knowing he was gay, but working in a profession with little tolerance - hiding his sexuality was too stressful, so he retired.
During this time he told his parent the reason he retired. The same year he met a chef and restaurant owner and the two began a 13 year relationship. They settled in Miami Florida.
Then in 1999, Bean made the decision to publicly come out in a interview with the Miami Herald. He was only the second of two retired professional baseball players to do so (from a field of 20,000 men).
In 2003, he wrote his autobiography, “Going the Other Way”
“This book is not a sad story about a victim of homophobia, or baseball mistreating me. It's about what it's like to live in the closet and to try to realize a dream under those restrictions."
Since then Bean was appointed MLB's first "Ambassador for Inclusion" on July 15, 2014. In this role he to speak to each team in the league about the importance of inclusion and acceptance. In January 2016 he became MLB's Vice President, Social Responsibility & Inclusion, and is currently Vice President and Special Assistant to the Commissioner.
“In the history of baseball, there have been only two players who have disclosed, and we just had our 20,000th player. Two out of 20,000 tells you that it’s not the easiest culture to crack,” Bean said.
