Met 'disagrees' with Bean lifestyle
Daniel Murphy made some comments Tuesday about Billy Bean, an openly gay Major League Baseball executive who spent the day with the New York Mets at spring training in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Bean, the league’s first ambassador of inclusion, is going from camp to camp providing guidance and training for players and others in order to support those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson wanted Bean’s visit to Mets camp to be different, so rather than giving a speech or leading a seminar, Bean suited up in the clubhouse and spent the day on the field with the players — like he did 25 years ago when he played.
Bean hit .226 with five home runs in 519 career plate appearances, playing for three teams over parts of six seasons from 1987 to 1995. But he also played in the metaphoric closet, fearing MLB wouldn’t accept him, or worse. Commissioner Bud Selig made Bean, now 50, an ambassador in 2014.
As one of the Mets leaders, Murphy called it “forward thinking” on Alderson’s part to invite Bean, adding that he’s wanted to meet him. But Murphy, described as a devout Christian, also made it clear that his embracing of Bean’s visit had conditions.
Billy Bean. (USATSI)
Via NJ.com:
“I disagree with his lifestyle,” Murphy said. “I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him. I don’t think the fact that someone is a homosexual should completely shut the door on investing in them in a relational aspect. Getting to know him. That, I would say, you can still accept them but I do disagree with the lifestyle, 100 percent.”
But Murphy also saw the moment as an opening for a conversation and an avenue to get past stereotypes. The issue, he says, was “uncharted territory.”
While there may be a perception that Christian athletes may not be accepting of gay players, Murphy says that it is not the case.
“Maybe, as a Christian, that we haven’t been as articulate enough in describing what our actual stance is on homosexuality,” he said. “We love the people. We disagree about the lifestyle. That’s the way I would describe it for me. It’s the same way that there are aspects of my life that I’m trying to surrender to Christ in my own life. There’s a great deal of many things, like my pride. I just think that as a believer trying to articulate it in a way that says just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m just never going to speak to Billy Bean every time he walks through the door. That’s not love. That’s not love at all.”
Here is what teammate Michael Cuddyer said:
“In my opinion nobody should be run out of a game or doing something that they’re good at based on something that doesn’t matter out on the field.”
Regardless of Murphy’s choice of words, Bean appreciated hearing his honesty, and said it would have been “life changing” to hear a teammate in the ’80s or ’90s express themselves in that way. It would be been downright progressive to hear in those days. That’s a big reason why Alderson wanted to bring Bean to camp. Alderson was GM of the Oakland Athletics when Glenn Burke died in 1995. A player in the 1970s, Burke opened up about being homosexual after his career ended, but he lived and died with a deep sadness from having to hide who he was. Bean has experienced many of the same feelings, which Alderson simply finds impossible to accept.
“That’s not right,” Alderson said.
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