Former Padres Outfielder Receives Posthumous Award From ESPN

In 1995, Billy Bean played in the San Diego Padres' final spring training exhibition game under extraordinary circumstances. His partner, Sam, died from AIDS-related causes hours before the game.

Bean had not come out to his teammates; he would only reveal he was gay several years after his retirement. He played the game while suffering silently, and would appear in only four more regular season games with the Padres before announcing his retirement.

"When Sam died ... I could barely hold it together because I wanted to tell somebody I had a terrible day," Bean told the Los Angeles Times in a 2015 interview. "But you just cover it up. A lot of athletes are wired that way. It was just a different time."

Nearly one year after his death from acute myeloid leukemia, Bean was honored with the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award Tuesday at the 11th annual Sports Humanitarian Awards. His husband, Greg Baker, received the award on Bean's behalf.

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The award recognized Bean's work with Major League Baseball in the decade preceding his death.

In 2014, Bean was named MLB's first-ever Ambassador for Inclusion by former Commissioner Bud Selig. Bean was promoted to the title of Vice President by Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2017, expanding his duties to include anti-bullying efforts.

Bean still held that title at the time of his death in August 2024.

In an interview with Newsweek Sports, Greg Baker spoke about his late husband's commitment to making professional baseball a more inclusive place for those in the LGBTQ+ community.

"He was always there to work things out with other people, to be a coach, encourage all sorts of people who met along the way," Baker told Newsweek Sports. "But I would see him come home at the end of the day at 6 p.m. and sit right there on the counter in the kitchen and get the laptop out and start just tidying things up — making sure he was dotting his I's and crossing his T's."

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Bean occupied a unique place in baseball history as the only living major league player, active or retired, to come out as gay. A native of Orange County, Bean played the last three (1993-95) of his six major league seasons in San Diego. In 176 games with the Padres, he slashed .235/.265/.332, seeing time at first base and the outfield.

The award for Bean comes at a delicate moment for MLB, which still lists "inclusiveness" among the values on its careers page, but controversially removed references to "diversity" in March following an executive order by President Donald Trump.

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"I know that Billy certainly had a lot more work that he wanted to do, and that I know that there's a lot of work that still needs to be done," Baker told Newsweek Sports. "I just hope that they [Major League Baseball] find a way to continue the mission that he started and he did so well."

The presentation of the award to Baker was featured in ESPN's studio programming this week, and during the 2025 ESPYs, which aired Wednesday.

For more Padres news, visit Padres on SI.