With Historic Post, White Sox Prospect Anderson Comás Comes Out
Anderson Comás, a prospect for the Chicago White Sox, made history as only the third minor league baseball player to come out as gay when he posted about it on Instagram.
CBS Sports reported that Comás, 23, follows in the footsteps of "former Giants pitcher Solomon Bates and former Brewers first baseman David Denson," both of whom also came out of the closet.
The athlete, who hails from the Dominican Republic, was unambiguous in his message, posting that he is "proudly and happily part of the LGTBQ+ community," CBS Sports noted. The post started out with a "Disclaimer," warning, "if you're homophobic this post is may not for you or maby yes so you can see we all matters and we all are the same...🙌🏽"
In his post, Comás wrote that "being a professional baseball player is the best thing that happened to me, so I just wanna say something to those people that say that gay people can not be someone in this life, well look at me I'm gay, and I'm a professional athlete, so that didn't stop me from making my dreams come true."
The pro baseball player went on to add: "I'm doing this cause I wanna be an inspiration for those like me out there fitting for their dreams; please don't listen to those stupid things that people say about us, fight for your dreams, believe in yourself, and go for it."
The White Sox were quick to offer congratulations and support, with Chris Getz, the team's assistant general manager, posting on the Chicago White Sox Twitter account, "We are all so proud of you, Anderson! ❤️🏳️🌈"
Getz said in a statement - also posted to the teams' Twitter - that Comás had "first shared his news with us last year," and added: "And I was very pleased that he was comfortable sharing with us in player development."
"I also was happy at the reaction across the organization, which, as you would expect, was to support, help and congratulate a teammate," the post went on to add.
Comás was quick to reply: "Thank you so much for the support, I appreciate that ❤️⚾️🏳️🌈🙏🏽"
With his post, Comás became only the third minor league player to come out publicly.
"In 2015, David Denson, a first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers organization, revealed he was gay," People Magazine recalled. "And in August 2022, former San Francisco Giants minor league pitcher Solomon Bates came out publicly as gay."
In the major leagues, "T.J. House," a former pitcher for Cleveland and also for the Toronto Blue Jays, "came out as gay in December in an announcement confirming his engagement to partner, Ryan Neitzel," People added.
UK newspaper the Guardian recalled other major league players who eventually became known as being gay. "Many teammates of Glenn Burke, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland A's in the 1970s, knew he was gay," the Guardian noted. "He died in 1995, and the Dodgers later acknowledged they had mistreated him during his career."
"Billy Bean, who played for several major league teams in the 1980s and 90s came out after retiring. In 2014, he became MLB's ambassador for inclusion."