Billy Bean - Nominee

"I've always been gay. I was gay since birth, and I just knew that there was something different about me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I think it was 13 years old and it was the first time I saw something.” 

(in an NYU You Matter podcast interview about the time he first saw two men kissing and that was the moment when it clicked for him that he was gay)

– Billy Bean

William “Billy” Bean’s love of baseball began as a child and although he was the smallest member of his Little League team he became an all-star at the age of 12. By the age of 13, Bean knew he was gay but suppressed that fact for many years which included having girlfriends. Bean graduated from Santa Ana High School in 1982 as the valedictorian of his senior class. He also won a state championship with his high school baseball team the Saints and played football. Bean went onto Loyola Marymount University (LMU) on a baseball athletic scholarship to play for the Lions university team. He was a two-time All-American outfielder in college. This honor drew the attention of the New York Yankees who chose him to play for them during the 1985 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. Yankees management offered Bean a $55,000 signing bonus, however he decided to return to LMU for his senior year at the urging on his college coach. Between his junior and senior year of college, Bean was a Fairbanks Goldpanners minor league baseball player and was named Goldpanners’ Player of the Year. Bean continued his winning streak during the 1986 college baseball season when the LMU Lions achieved the number one national ranking in midseason which led to them playing in the 1986 College World Series. He graduated with a Business Administration degree. Bean’s professional baseball career began when he was chosen by the Detroit Tigers in the 1986 MLB draft fourth round and played his first game on April 25, 1987, where he tied the MLB record of four hits. The left-handed Bean played in the outfield. was a first baseman, and pinch hitter. Detroit Lions fans chanted his name when he was at-bat in the later innings. This success was short-lived so Bean was sent back to the minor leagues where he led the Toledo Mud Hens during the 1988 season. Bean was promoted to the major leagues and played nine games for the Tigers during the 1989 season. He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the summer of 1989 and played in 51 games where he had a low batting average so he was demoted to the minor leagues again during the 1990 and 1991 baseball seasons. In 1992; Bean played in the Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball league for the Kintetsu Buffalos. Bean returned to the United States in early 1993 and signed a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres. He was quickly promoted to the major leagues and played for the Padres from 1993-1995. Bean retired after the 1995 MLB season. While playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1989, Bean married his girlfriend of four years, Anna Maria Amato. They divorced in 1993 in the aftermath of Bean meeting his future romantic partner, Iranian immigrant Sam Madani in a Maryland health club gym showers. Bean and Madani quickly moved in together, however, they hid their relationship and living arrangements from Bean’s teammates. Madani was diagnosed HIV-positive in early 1995 and two months later he collapsed in their home while Bean was away playing an exhibition game. When Bean arrived home he discovered Madani unconscious and due to fears of being outed at the closest hospital to their condo, Bean drove 30 extra minutes to another hospital. Madani died the next day from cardiac arrest due to AIDS-related complications. Bean was so fearful he didn’t even attend Madani’s public funeral. It was only after Bean retired from baseball that he gradually came out to his parents and friends and in 1999 came out publicly in a Miami Herald article with many other national media outlets covering this story in the ensuing months. This revelation made Bean the second-ever MLB player to come out after Glenn Burke. Bean wrote a bestselling memoir in 2003, Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball. In 2014, Bean was hired by then-Commissioner Bud Selig to be the MLB’s first-ever Ambassador for Inclusion and Senior Advisor. His focus was on player education, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and social justice initiatives. He was promoted in 2017 to Vice President and Special Assistant to the Commissioner with an expanded role working on anti-bullying efforts and in 2022 was promoted again to Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Bean was also a member of the MLB Owners’ DE&I Committee and was instrumental in MLB’s LGBTQ+ focused Spirit Day efforts among other things. His very public MLB roles allowed him to travel the country and speak to diverse audiences about his experiences and LGBTQ+ rights. Bean became a Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation board member. He was featured on an episode of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-list in 2009 among other television appearances. In 2023, Bean was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and died in 2024 at the age of 60 in his New York City home with his husband and doctor Greg Baker by his side. Bean was honored with an induction into LMU’s Hall of Fame in 1992.