Ventura: MLB would accept openly gay player

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- There has never been an openly gay player on an active Major League Baseball roster, but White Sox manager Robin Ventura is fairly certain he has played alongside a gay player.

University of Missouri football prospect Michael Sam's recent announcement that he was gay prior to the NFL Draft was greeted with support from many players, and Ventura believes an openly gay player would be accepted in the MLB ranks.

"Hopefully he's a really good player; that's the first thing we would look at," Ventura said. "But it's grown to that point where it's going to happen. I'm sure I played with one. I'm not naïve enough to think it didn't happen. But to have openly in the locker room, I don't see it as big an issue as it has been in the past.

"It would take the first person to come out and say it, but then you adjust. I don't think it would be a big change as far as the way guys are and the way the game is right now. Again, there's been one in the locker room. It has already happened. It hasn't openly happened."