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Hardcover
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Chris Bull
Billy Bean is the first major league baseball player to publicly discuss his homosexuality and the first athlete in a professional American team sport to do so since all-pro football player Dave Kopay came out in 1975. By 1996, when Bean retired at age thirty-two from the game he loved after ten years as a pro ballplayer for the Tigers, Dodgers, and Padres, he had become disillusioned by the sport that had defined his life. Bean found himself forced to choose between his love of baseball and the man he loved. It was an agonizing end to a career in which he struggled to make the most of his role as a utility player in America's most physically and emotionally demanding sport. But out of the premature demise of his career, Bean came to see what the game had taught him and helped him to understand what could be done to improve the major leagues for the next generation of young athletes, so they can navigate the challenges and rewards of the game on their own terms. Bean recently starred as himself on HBO's popular Arli$$ and appears frequently as a commentator on sports and politics on national TV.
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| Billy Bean |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Great story by a guy that wasted a lot of years not being himself to balance his high profile job. he went through lots of the same tribulation I did.
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| Fascinating glimpse into the closeted world of major league baseball |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This is a heartfelt story that has not been told before -- a glimpse inside the world of major league baseball from the perspective of a perceptive and sensitive gay man. Billy writes with real passion about the sport he loves, the incredible pressure to excel, and the high personal price a gay man pays for remaining in the closet. He has a lot to say about the culture of professional sports, how players relate to each other both on and off the field, and what it takes to excel in a very demanding job. And for those who are not baseball fans, a useful glossary of baseball terms and slang is included at the back of the book.
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| Show's yet another reason for needing gay marriage |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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GREAT story. I am not a sports fan, but couldn't put the book down once I started to read it.
I think Billy helps to prove that the stereotype that gay men are vain is wrong. Here is a man that could have any gay guy he wants and is more interested in love.
Having to miss his partner's funeral almost brought tears to my eyes. This story right there provides yet another reason as to why we need gya marriage in the US>
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| A solid base hit! |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Billy Bean played for 3 major league baseball teams (the Dodgers, Tigers and Padres). He was never a star in the majors, but he had a decent career. Would Bean have a story to tell if he was not gay? Maybe, because it seems everyone writes an autobiography these days. This isn't just the story of a gay man. This is the story of a man struggling to discover who he really is.
Bean discusses his childhood, his high school playing days and his years in the minor leagues. While he progressed through life, he always seemed to feel as if something was missing or not quite right. Still he got married and thought he was living the 'right' life.
Eventually and painfully, Bean realized what he was and decided to act upon it, even though he was not ready to go public with everything. Tragically and much too quickly, his first meaningful gay relationship ended with his partner's death due to AIDS.
Bean's story of coping with this loss, while coming to terms with his sexuality is an engrossing story. You can feel Bean's pain. Gay or not, we all go through our own identity struggles. I guess that is one thing that makes Bean's book good. We can all relate to his struggles. Yet, on the other hand, I have no idea what he must have endured, but Bean paints a vivid and often painful picture of his journey. This makes the book a good read for all people.
I won't totally kill the ending, but I will say that it is uplifting and positive.
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| A baeball education and a good story. |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I am not a baseball fan. I read a review of this book and there was just something that intrigued me about the story. I was prepared to be disappointed but, once I started, I couldn't stop turning the pages to see how all this was going to work out. Of course it was interesting to read Billy's take on the gay part of the story but, I think even with that removed from the picture, this is a moving story of a boy's dream and his struggles to achieve it. It certainly was a most pleasant sojourn into the baseball business and the life of a ballplayer.
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