Printable Biography of Billy Bean

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Billy Bean broke into the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers, and tied a major league record with 4 hits in his first major league game. He went on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the 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.

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 as well. He is the only living former major league baseball player to acknowledge his homosexuality. 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. 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.

“I believe that all people, regardless of their personal belief, or religious denomination, would agree that being honest with yourself, your family, and those around you, is a great foundation for living your life. It has been a long, hard journey for me, and I want people to learn from my mistakes, not share them.”

Billy lives in Miami Beach with his partner of 9 years, Efraín Veiga. They share a real estate business redeveloping residential properties. He is the author of, “Going the Other Way: Lessons from a life in and out of Major League Baseball.” (Avalon Publishing Group, NYC.) The film adaptation of his book, produced by Storyline Entertainment will soon air on the Showtime network. 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.

From the only openly gay former major-league baseball player comes an unprecedented chronicle of America¹s national pastime. Going the Other Way is the intimate memoir of a man who, in the prime of his career, faced a heartbreaking dilemma and, in time, learned to follow his own path.

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.
In Going the Other Way, Bean takes us from the dusty fields of his youth to the college World Series, the minor-league playing diamonds of Glens Falls and Toledo (where, in a nod to his talent, his teammates nicknamed him "Roy Hobbs," the hero of The Natural), to his first game for the Tigers (he tied the record for most hits in a major-league debut), and winter-ball seasons in Latin America.

Bean brings us inside the clubhouse and onto the playing field, offering dead-on insight into the game and the physical and emotional demands it makes on players. Bean¹s forthright portraits of baseball icons--his legendary managers Sparky Anderson and Tommy Lasorda, slugging stars Kirk Gibson and Tony Gwynn, and all-star pitchers Jack Morris and Trevor Hoffman, among many others--illuminate what it takes to be great.

Dubbed "the boy of every girl's dream" by Dodger manager 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.

Bean came out to national acclaim in 1999, but Going the Other Way is the first time he has told his story in his own words. 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 men and women can pursue their athletic dreams free of prejudice and discrimination.