On Thursday, the MLB is celebrating Spirit Day. The day is one that is used to combat bullying against LGBTQ+ youth. Spirit Day, which was spearheaded by former outfielder and Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Billy Bean, has been a big date for several years now.
The 60-year-old Billy Bean passed away earlier this year after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in September 2023. In a video released by the MLB, a number of players, coaches, and members of the organization supported LGBTQ+ youth.
"Using the platform of baseball, we have a chance to reach out to millions and millions of kids. It might ignite a conversation between a parent and a child about how dangerous bullying can be for any kid," Bean said in the video.
An outfielder for the San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers, and Los Angeles Dodgers, Billy Bean retired from the MLB after the 1995 season at only 31 years old.
In 2014, Bean was hired by the MLB as the first-ever Ambassador for Inclusion with the support of the LGBTQ+ community and youth being one of his missions. With the establishment of Spirit Day, the program has helped provide awareness and education for the prevention of bullying LGBTQ+ youth.
"Spirit Day speaks to all of us in some way, shape, or form. Billy decided that he was going to be the frontrunner on Spirit Day to say, 'I'm here to help you and love you and support you,'" Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said in the video.
The MLB has been active in supporting the LGBTQ+ community
As part of the league's continued push to make baseball a sport that is inclusive for everyone, there have been a number of different events and celebrations for years. Aside from Spirit Day, one of the other ways that teams have shown their support has been by hosting Pride Nights and Weekends.
During these games, teams often give out merchandise with pride colors. This season, for example, the Tampa Bay Rays gave out team jerseys but with the lettering written in pride colors. Despite the strong effort to push LGBTQ+, there have still been a lot of people pushing back against the movement.