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. Photo credit: Conroy family photo, courtesy of the Sonoma Stompers.
