Major League Baseball is mourning the loss of one of its own.
Billy Bean, the league’s Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, passed away at his home on Tuesday after an 11-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Bean, who was diagnosed last September, was 60 years old.
“Our hearts are broken today as we mourn our dear friend and colleague, Billy Bean, one of the kindest and most respected individuals I have ever known,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Billy was a friend to countless people across our game, and he made a difference through his constant dedication to others. He made Baseball a better institution, both on and off the field, by the power of his example, his empathy, his communication skills, his deep relationships inside and outside our sport, and his commitment to doing the right thing. We are forever grateful for the enduring impact that Billy made on the game he loved, and we will never forget him. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Billy’s husband, Greg Baker, and their entire family.”
A native of Santa Ana, Calif., Bean was the only living openly gay Major League player (current or former), having come out in 1999. Detroit’s fourth-round Draft pick in 1986, Bean played for the Tigers, Dodgers and Padres from 1987-1995, logging a total of 519 plate appearances in 272 career games.
His decision to retire at the age of 31 wasn’t easy, but he decided that living as a closeted baseball player was untenable, and he believed that neither he nor the game was ready for an openly gay player. It wasn’t until 1999, more than three years after his final game, that Bean came out, becoming only the second player ever to do so. (Glenn Burke, who retired in 1979 and came out in 1982, died in 1995.)
Bean became a national story, with media outlets including the New York Times, CNN and ABC covering his tale. In 2003, Bean published his memoir, “Going the Other Way,” which became a national bestseller.
"Nowadays, there's so much more information," Bean said in 2018. "Self-identification happens a lot earlier, and open-hearted families and parents teach their children about everything in the world. It allows for an earlier evolution. I was living in a very stone-age space."
Bean joined the Office of the Commissioner in July 2014, hired by then-Commissioner Bud Selig as MLB’s first-ever Ambassador for Inclusion. As a senior advisor to Manfred, Bean’s role focused on player education, LGBTQ inclusion, and social justice initiatives.
“As society progressed, Billy brought that as a figurehead to Major League Baseball and institutions that never had a position like that, or a role like that, or even acknowledged it,” said Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus, who played 18 years in the big leagues and has been a close friend to Bean, dating back to their time as Padres teammates in the 1990s.
“It’s a sad day, definitely, for what he’s done in the game," A's manager Mark Kotsay said. "His leadership is going to be missed in the role. Brad Ausmus is a good friend of mine, and I know Brad sent him a note today. ... For baseball, we lost an ambassador and a really, really great man.”
MLB promoted Bean to Vice President and Special Assistant to the Commissioner in March 2017, adding anti-bullying efforts to his plate. Five years later, Bean was promoted to Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Bean served as a member of the MLB Owners' DE&I Committee, instrumental in the development of MLB’s bullying prevention education programming and the game’s support of Spirit Day, MLB’s “Ahead in the Count” education program, and in elevating the visibility of MLB’s mental wellness resources. Bean also served as a keynote speaker in settings inside and outside of professional sports.
“Billy would say that baseball did a lot more for him than he ever did for baseball,” Ausmus said. “I truly believe in talking to him, that the best thing that's ever happened to him in his life is that he was able to get back into baseball after having to leave baseball.”
Ausmus and Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman were among the first of Bean’s former teammates to reach out to Bean after he came out in 1999.
On Tuesday, Hoffman described Bean as a “kind soul, a thoughtful teammate.”
“He respected the game, played it hard," Hoffman said. "And then was really the first inclusion ambassador in baseball -- and I thought he had a unique perspective, just having lived in that arena with his personal hurdles that he had to handle as a player.
“And then as somebody that really navigated the next era of players and organization into the future and forward-thinking. So, really, he was in the right place at the right time. He’s going to be a big loss for all of baseball and society. He’s going to be sorely missed.”
After receiving his diagnosis last September, Bean made it public in December. MLB’s annual Winter Meetings Charity Auction supported Stand Up to Cancer, which was selected after Bean and Catalina Villegas, MLB’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, were both diagnosed with cancer in 2023.
“You just never know the opportunity that baseball provides,” Bean said upon the launch of the auction. “Someone’s going to pay attention that maybe wouldn’t have otherwise. Hopefully what we’re doing saved a life today.”