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As a shirtless Little Leaguer racing around the sun-drenched diamonds of Southern California, Billy Bean imitated his childhood baseball heroes Steve Garvey and Fred Lynn as he dreamed of becoming a professional ballplayer. By virtue of a relentless work ethic, exceptional multi-sport talent, and a quick left-handed swing, Bean became one of the very few athletes to make it to the big leagues playing in the majors from 1987 to 1995 for the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres.
Born in Santa Ana, California, in 1964, he was a multi-sport star at Santa Ana High School, where he was chosen “athlete of the year” as a senior. He was selected Valedictorian of his graduating class, and went on to become an “All-America” outfielder twice before graduating from Loyola Marymount University in 1986 with a degree in Business Administration.
Dubbed "the boy of every girl's dream" by Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda, Bean solidified his role as a major-league utility player even as he grappled with a secret that made hitting a Roger Clemens fastball look easy: he was a gay man in a brutally anti-gay world. Ultimately, Bean faced an agonizing choice between continuing to play, in secrecy and solitude, the game he loved and the honesty of a loving relationship.
After years of living secretly, Billy came out publicly in 1999. His story was front- page news in the New York Times, and subsequently on a nationally televised story with Diane Sawyer. He is the only living former major league baseball player to acknowledge his homosexuality. In the prime of his career, Billy walked away from Major League Baseball in 1996, in part, because of a year long struggle dealing with the sudden death of his former partner, and the frustration of holding onto that secret all alone. His desire not to let that happen to anyone else pushes him to share his story. He has been working actively to try and dispel the myth and stereotypes that follow people of diversity. He was a featured spokesman on behalf of the Democratic National Committee during campaign 2000, and travels around the country as a national spokesman on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign, reaching out to many young adults who are desperately in need of a role model.
From the only openly gay former major-league baseball player comes an unprecedented chronicle of America¹s national pastime. Billy’s memoir, Going the Other Way, is the intimate story of a man who, in the prime of his career, faced a heartbreaking dilemma and, in time, learned to follow his own path. By turns heartbreaking and farcical, ruminative and uncensored, the book culminates in a respectful, deeply felt appeal to Major League Baseball and other professional team sports to live up to their promise of equality and opportunity. A testament to the power of a single voice, Going the Other Way is an exemplary American tale that points the way toward a more perfect game, one in which all en and women can pursue their athletic dreams free of prejudice and discrimination.
Billy, still devoted to competitive sports, travels around the country playing tennis and basketball in organized tournaments in hopes of raising the visibility of athletes of diversity.
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