Billy Bean born 11 May 1964William Daro 'Billy' Bean (born in Santa Ana, California) is a former Major League Baseball player who made news in 1999 when he made his homosexuality public.
Bean was a high-scoring outfielder in a career that lasted from 1987 through 1995: Detroit Tigers 1987-89, Los Angeles Dodgers 1989, San Diego Padres 1993-95. Bean joined the Detroit Tigers in 1987 tying an MLB record with four hits in his first major league game.
After acknowledging that he is gay, Bean went on to write a book, Going the Other Way: Lessons from a life in and out of Major League Baseball.
Bean is only the second former major league player to reveal his homosexuality; the late Los Angeles Dodger and Oakland Athletic Glenn Burke is the only other player to have acknowledged his homosexuality.
He appears occasionally on US television in various guises - acting and as a celebrity - and is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.