I could write a book on my own experience and how I got through what I went through," he says. "I think everyone's experience is different. And when I asked about the tragedy at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, he had nothing he wanted to share publicly.īut wisdom based on his own experiences for anyone who might need it? That's ground he'll tread.
Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage, saying in a TV interview that his preference is to be in the spotlight for baseball. He was fine with losing his Pride Night spotlight to the U.S. Later, he would do the same in college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.ĭescribed by those who know him well as "quiet" and "cerebral," Conroy's not the spokesperson type. Rather than stay in hiding, he came right out to his high school teammates. "'It's just a better life, because I know what life was like when I was in high school.'"īut Conroy had a better idea. "I said, 'I think you should kinda keep it in your back pocket until you get through high school,'" Conroy's mother, Terry, told Lindbergh.
They were immediately accepting but also worried.
It's already put him in the Hall of Fame, and it's still offering a glimpse at a brighter, more inclusive future for professional baseball.Īs recounted in Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller's book about running the 2015 Stompers, The Only Rule Is It Has to Work, Conroy came out to his parents when he was a teenager. So far, though, Conroy's story has been different. Before becoming the first openly gay player in Major League Soccer, Robbie Rogers' coming out originally coincided with his retirement. Jason Collins and Michael Sam were celebrated for coming out but then swiftly nudged aside. Glenn Burke and Billy Bean had unhappy and short-lived careers as major leaguers who were not out publicly. The precedents for Conroy's experience aren't encouraging. The Stompers are one of only four teams in the independent Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, where players make only a couple hundred bucks a month in a three-month season. The moment may have been surreal, but what happened last June was very real. Trice adds, “Any man who can kiss another man on the cheek in a fairly macho sport, and create an atmosphere where players don’t mind a smooch every now and then after they’ve excelled, has won my heart and admiration entirely.Photo credit: Conroy family photo, courtesy of the Sonoma Stompers. (Sources tell me that Guillen hugged and kissed Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia after one playoff win, but I didn’t witness that.) A few minutes later in the clubhouse, he hugged and kissed Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf after Reinsdorf was given the American League Championship trophy.
But then he also hugged and kissed Contreras. On Sunday night, Guillen hugged and kissed his son, which isn’t unusual. I thought maybe kissing was the new thing from the new metrosexual male athlete.īut after consulting with several colleagues, I now understand that this kissing phenomenon is much more specific to the South Side team’s metroSOXual manager. I noticed the kissing for the first time Saturday night, but I kept it to myself because before the pennant race, I hadn’t been watching baseball games from beginning to end. The Chicago Trib‘s Dawn Turner Trice says she believes that the key to the White Sox’s winning season is the fact that Guillen makes a point to kiss nearly every player on the team, and doesn’t stop there: Unattractive homosexuality/molestation comments aside, Guillen seems more comfortable with gayness than most in Major League Baseball - at least he seems more comfortable about actions that might be perceived as stepping over that gay line.