Sunday, August 16, 2015

Milwaukee Brewers minor-league baseball player comes out as gay: report

(Reuters) – A first baseman for the minor league Helena Brewers, a rookie affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, has come out publicly as gay, a first for an active player connected with Major League Baseball, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper.

David Denson, 20, came out publicly to the newspaper with the help of former major leaguer Billy Bean, who last year was named MLB’s first “Ambassador for Inclusion,” the Sentinel reported on Sunday.
Only two major league players have ever come out publicly as gay – Bean and Glenn Burke – and both had already left the game, the paper reported.

Denson is not considered an elite prospect for the Brewers, but he is known as a power hitter who is batting .253 for the Helena, Montana, team, the paper said.

Other professional athletes who have disclosed their homosexuality in recent years include football player Michael Sam, who was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in 2014 but didn’t make the roster.
Sam announced on Friday that he was stepping away from football and leaving the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes for mental health reasons.

National Basketball Association player Jason Collins because the first active player in a major professional team sport to come out publicly as gay in 2013. He has since retired.

A representative for Major League Baseball was not immediately available for comment.


(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski, editing by Larry King)
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