Billy Bean, former MLB player and gay rights activist, dies at 60

CALIFORNIA — Billy Bean has died. That’s BILLY BEAN, the MLB gay activist and former player.

(Please note: BILLY BEAN is often CONFUSED with BILLY BEANE, the Oakland A’s executive, who revolutionized MLB front office thinking with his focus on .OBP and turned his low-ranking team into a contender with the skillful use of Sabermetrics. It was BEANE, not BEAN who was the subject of the best-selling book Moneyball, made into a hit film starring Brad Pitt.

Bean, who died at his home recently after a year long battle with acute myeloid leukemia, at age 60, was not the first gay major leaguer. That distinction went to Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he was the most visible — since 2014  serving as MLB Senior Vice-President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a special assistant to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.