Sonoma Stompers pitcher Sean Conroy on Thursday night became the first ever openly gay professional baseball player to toss a shutout.
The 23-year-old is the first openly gay professional baseball player, period, and the shutout in his first start with the team proved his role with the Stompers has little to do with publicity.
“He wanted to be that guy, and coming out here and doing this shows you what kind of man he is,” Stompers radio broadcaster Tim Livingston said after the final out of the game, per The Associated Press. “To see this little field here in the middle of nowhere, when we look back, it will have been the perfect setting for this.”
The timing couldn’t have been better, as Conroy’s shutout came less than 24 hours before the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that same-sex marriage cannot be banned in any state.
Stompers general manager Theo Fightmaster said Conroy informed his teammates and coaches of his sexual orientation privately and knew he wanted to come out publicly on the team’s gay pride night.
“It’s not that I wanted it to go public, but I didn’t care if it was open information. It’s who I am,” Conroy said. “I am definitely surprised that no one else has been openly gay in baseball yet.”
Conroy led the Stompers, who are part of the Pacific Association of Baseball Clubs, to a 7-0 victory over the Vallejo Admirals. He struck out 11 and allowed just three hits over nine innings.
Photo via KSVY Sonoma/Twitter
