The baseball and tennis worlds crossed paths Friday afternoon when MLB’s senior vice president of diversity, equity & inclusion and special assistant to the Commissioner Billy Bean participated in the pre-match coin toss at the US Open. The moment was part of the event’s Open Pride Day, which also included the outside of Arthur Ashe Stadium lit up in rainbow lights during Thursday night’s matches and other events held throughout the day.
Bean, one of the first people to have been a Major League Baseball player to come out as gay, took part in the coin toss prior to Friday’s match between Iga Swiatek, the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player, and Sloane Stephens at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens.
Bean publicly identified himself as gay in 1999, several years after the end of his playing career. He was named MLB's first ambassador for inclusion in 2014 and promoted to his current position in 2017.