Interesting stuff from this Trubune survey of major leaguers.

Thanks Jim! Good stuff.
The players are OK with gay teammates, like Wrigley Field and Safeco Field, and hate Questec.
I hear angels ...

A few years ago (maybe around when Billy Bean came out), there was a survey that had a lot more questions on gay attitudes. At that time, only about 50% could be considered supportive, but in some ways it was interesting because there were written comments. Does anybody have a link?

I think it's interesting that that question got put on the survey in the first place. As I've said, gays are a hot button issue in baseball. Hopefully this survey, gay days, Billy Bean, etc. will keep the topic of gays in sports in the news.

I'm reminded of a discussion Rob Dibble had with Dan Patrick, on Patrick's radio program, during the "gay Met" episode. Patrick kept going on about a gay player would disrupt the team (and even said he wouldn't let his son wear the uniform of a gay player) while Dibble claimed it wouldn't be a big deal, adding that in his playing days, he had a couple of gay teammates. Dibble said they faced jokes in the locker room ( everyone becomes the brunt of jokes in the locker room) and some teammates avoided them, but that it didn't adversely affect the teams. He ended his comments by adding that teams are made up of a wide array of personalities and types & that one of the unwritten rules of team sports is that you don't tell tales about your teammates, so he doubted anyone would ever be outed by a teammate.

~Adam

[ July 14, 2004, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: Adam ]

While the published results of this survey are encouraging, as King Kaufman alluded to I have some doubts as to the sincerity of the respondents along with the manner in which the question was asked (i.e., "Would it bother you to have a gay teammate"?)....upon seeing the results my initial thought was how many TRUE bigots/homophobes are going to "admit" to being anti-gay (albeit anonymously), particularly in light of the justifiable criticism that John Rocker, Todd Jones, Jeremy Shockey, Garrison Hearst, et. al., have received in recent years.

Maybe my cynicism is shining through (again? ) but I view this as being a manifestation of the "political correctness" that has become far too common whenever an athlete or celebrity is asked their opinion about a "controversial" issue....in addition to the 15% who acknowledged that they WOULD be bothered by having a gay teammate, the 11% NO COMMENT is equally revealing, in my view.

The only way we will ever get a TRUE answer to this question and real progress will ever be attained is when a professional athlete (at least in one of the major team sports, anyway) publicly comes out and "faces the consequences" of some non-supportive fans, teammates and opponents, as Jackie Robinson so courageously did 57 years ago.

[ July 14, 2004, 09:09 AM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Adam, I remember that conversation as well. To Dibs credit, he was non-chalant about the whole thing as if it was old news having gay teammates. I had always liked Dibs, but I had a new found respect for him after that show.

[ July 14, 2004, 09:10 AM: Message edited by: Aubie in Bham ]

I don't really think this is much of a surprise. I've always felt baseball players were mainly the most normal of professional sports players (well, other than maybe hockey). They aren't overwhelmingly paid such as the NFL/NBA. Sure there are the kooks and the snobs and such, but I think for the most part they are average guys (well as avg as you can be for being a pro player).

I'd much rather see a similar poll in the NFL. Also, I think it would be a good thing for the NCAA to conduct something similar......

I don't have any experience with professional players but I know back in college at Pitt I had several really good friends who played football and were very supportive of me. Now, of course, I wasn't on the team but they were generally nice guys. One guy even told a new boyfriend of mine that he'd better treat me nice or else. I also had some friends on the baseball team and they were equally supportive, if a little less enthusiastic. We won't even talk about the gymnastics team...ha ha. I don't know, I think eventually it will come around. Maybe sooner than we expect.

Hi All.....great survey. I think one question that needs to be asked is if a player thinks that an openly gay player would be taunted by the opposing players or fans. Sure, teammates can be accepting (especially if said gay player was a good player), however, how accepting will the opposing players and/or fans be? Taunting and mind games are sure to come into play.

I think fans would be merciless. Even if 90% of fans were supportive, it always seems to be a very small minority that makes life hell for players. All it takes is 2 drunk guys with good seats to make quite a scene, so my guess is the media would be decently accepting (since people are supposed to be PC now), but during games and out on the town it would be very hard.

Encouraging story and poll. I hope that the 17% that would not be comfortable with a gay team mate are not the ones who move on to upper mangement and coaching staff. They may be a relatively small minority but they may also be disproportionately represented in the leadership.

Over time younger more open-minded players will replace them if this poll is to be believed and perhaps these poll results will cause more hard action that makes a gay player feel comfortable.

Hey - in most all-male jobs we all get kidded - I am out & accepted AND get jokes made sometimes.- AND I make a few - mild ones- like if we are lookin at a female on the Super Bowl- they may say "Move out of the way-you don't care about seein her any way" Or if they make a play on "Homey don't play that game" I may say "homo what?", or etc etc. Mild, funny - ;like we kid other guys about having big ears or being Italian ( very politically incorrect- but I get called the worlds tallest leprachaun) or that they drive an old beat up car or whatever we feel like raggin on guys for. If they say something is gay I may say "I'm sure you meant that as a compliment! Nothing nasty nothing low - just mild fun- I laff my ass off! Its a guy thing! - Gator Jamie, do lesbians do a form of that too? :confused: Seriously wondering. :confused:

[ July 16, 2004, 09:01 AM: Message edited by: copman ]

Copman, This has been my experience for the most part too. It makes you wonder what is really up with the guys who can't handle us? There has got to be something deeper going on with them. Thankfully in day to day life these people seem to be few and far between. Unfortunately the few do some serious damage as I have also witnessed in the past.

"Over time younger more open-minded players will replace them"

i don,t know about that. Baseball has ALOT of players from other countries that are very religious, and it's a macho sport. I think it's gonna take WAY longer than we think because of those 2 factors.

If i take for example hockey, a sport in which a big percentage of players are canadians and not as religious as even america, it's still not accepted. It's gonna take a few players coming out before it is, but then again players are too chicken to come out.

Team sports seem soooooo behind society on such matters.

That's my 2 cents.