Dale Scott is first MLB umpire to come out as gay

Major League Baseball umpire Dale Scott recently became the first official in a major US sport to come out as gay.

Scott first discussed his private life in the October issue of Referee Magazine, and he provided a photo of himself with his husband for the feature. Scott’s husband, Michael Rausch, has been his partner for 28 years.

In an interview with OutSports that was published on Tuesday, Scott explained his decision to send the photo to Referee Magazine editor Jeff Stern.

“My thought process was that there’s a story about my career and how I got started in umpiring and they’re talking to people I have known since junior high and it didn’t seem right to have a whole story and pictures without a picture of Mike and I, someone who’s been with me through this entire process,” Scott said. “We met the October after my first year in the big leagues.

“Obviously, when I sent that picture to Jeff, I knew exactly what it meant. In a small way, this was opening that door in a publication that wasn’t going to be circulated nationwide. It could be picked up, but it’s not Time magazine. I made that decision to go ahead and do it because I felt it was the right thing to do.”

Scott said that his colleagues and MLB management already knew he was gay, so he didn’t intend to have a “banner headline” coming out story when he let Stern into his personal life. He simply didn’t think it would be appropriate to talk about his life story without including the man he has been with for nearly three decades.

The entire interview with OutSports is worth reading. If you follow baseball closely, you’re probably familiar with Scott. Most recently, he was ripped by Matt Kemp for his strike zone during a postseason game.

H/T Deadspin