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- Thread starter mikeyank
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Well said, buddy. There are certainly worse forms of cheating that Jeter stayed clear of and kept his hands clean of. So it's not like he ever brought great scandal or embarrassment onto himself or his team. Like Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, A-Rod, etc. I'm also glad to know that he was polite to his fans in RL. Especially the young kids who idolized him. 
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Well said, buddy. There are certainly worse forms of cheating that Jeter stayed clear of and kept his hands clean of. So it's not like he ever brought great scandal or embarrassment onto himself or his team. Like Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, A-Rod, etc. I'm also glad to know that he was polite to his fans in RL. Especially the young kids who idolized him.
Great points far 2 many don't realize that the fans are their real bosses.
mikeyank
Long time forumite
Thanks Tampa. A lot of this has to do with the shift where defenses switch their positions due to analytics and no one knows where their teammates are playing. But some of these plays are older ones too Just good old fashioned baseball bloopers.
mikeyank
Long time forumite
From USA Today, September 2, 2021
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...fessional-baseball-player-out-gay/8244571002/
Bryan Ruby becomes only active professional baseball player to publicly come out as gay
Bryan Ruby first started to realize he was different at 14 years old. That's when the hiding began. Along with the darkness.
He found emotional refuge in two different parts of his identity. He's a professional baseball player, a member of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, which makes him much closer to a journeyman than a major-leaguer. And he's a country music songwriter, having written two songs that reached the charts, plus countless ballads in his notebook.
Yet it's Ruby's hidden part of his identity that he now believes can have the biggest impact, partially because it's so foreign to the worlds of baseball and country music.
Ruby is a gay man, the only active professional baseball player at any level to be publicly out.
"I kept thinking about the little 14-year-old me, who was scared because I'm a baseball player who loved country music," Ruby, 25, told USA TODAY Sports. "Those are worlds where people like me are told they can't belong. I'm not a hot-shot prospect. But today, you can't find a single active baseball player who is out publicly. I want to help create a world where future generations of baseball players don't have to sacrifice authenticity or who they really are to play the game they love."
His coming out follows a summer in which Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib and Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop also came out as gay. After years of no actively out players in men's professional sports, now there are three.
Playing the guitar in his bedroom in recent months, with posters of Dierks Bentley and Cal Ripken Jr. hanging in the background, Ruby sang a song he's co-written that seems especially relevant given his purpose behind coming out.
"If that white line ever gets lonely, if the nights get a little too cold, if it don't work out, if you have your doubts, you've got a place to go."
Ruby's goal is clear: to help others who are forced to hide their identity, too.
Bryan Ruby, a 25-year-old openly gay athlete for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, has two careers where homophobia exists -- as a professional baseball player and country music songwriter.
"Being closeted for basically 10 years, it was a struggle the whole time," he said. "I used to hate myself. Hate how I felt. I'd ask why am I feeling this way?"
"I kept having people tell me, 'Be very cautious of who you tell' or 'They don't need to know your personal life.' The best way to describe the hiding as an athlete is like you're running with a weighted vest on," he said. "It's on all day and you can't take it off. I've been gradually taking that weight off."
Factor in Ruby's second career in Nashville – where he moonlights writing hits for HaydenJoseph and Xavier Joseph – and you've got two worlds that scream he's straight.
“As a country music songwriter, at first I thought being gay was a huge weakness,” said Ruby, who will be showcased in the upcoming documentary, "Out in Nashville." “There’s this genre about drinking beer and hooking up with girls in the back of the truck. Then I realized that I can bring something different to the table. Love songs don’t need to be gay or straight. And I’ve been able to write my best songs by being authentic.”
A supportive family, 'such courage'
Ruby trembled over the phone sitting parked in his black Dodge Ram truck with the wind blowing in the background.
"Mom, it's me ... I got a spot."
Tears flowed down his cheeks as he told his family in March that he made the Volcanoes roster.
A year ago, the future was uncertain for Ruby and the Volcanoes. A Class-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants from 1997 to 2020, the Volcanoes were not one of the teams invited to join Major League Baseball's newly created minor league structure. They eventually formed the Mavericks Independent League with three other teams based in the Salem, Oregon area.
Meanwhile, Ruby did not play last year, along with hundreds of other farmhands when minor league seasons at all levels were canceled because of COVD-19.
Bryan Ruby had a bat in his hands long before he knew he was different growing up.
"I didn't think I'd ever play (pro) baseball again," said Ruby, who has kept his career going internationally in six countries that include Austria, Chile, Germany, Guatemala, Peru, and Switzerland – all after a standout career at Vassar College. "I told myself I’d go to the end of the earth if it meant I could keep my baseball career alive. ...I've been a baseball player since I was seven or eight, way before I knew I was gay. It's the lens through which I see the world."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...fessional-baseball-player-out-gay/8244571002/
Bryan Ruby becomes only active professional baseball player to publicly come out as gay
Bryan Ruby first started to realize he was different at 14 years old. That's when the hiding began. Along with the darkness.
He found emotional refuge in two different parts of his identity. He's a professional baseball player, a member of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, which makes him much closer to a journeyman than a major-leaguer. And he's a country music songwriter, having written two songs that reached the charts, plus countless ballads in his notebook.
Yet it's Ruby's hidden part of his identity that he now believes can have the biggest impact, partially because it's so foreign to the worlds of baseball and country music.
Ruby is a gay man, the only active professional baseball player at any level to be publicly out.
"I kept thinking about the little 14-year-old me, who was scared because I'm a baseball player who loved country music," Ruby, 25, told USA TODAY Sports. "Those are worlds where people like me are told they can't belong. I'm not a hot-shot prospect. But today, you can't find a single active baseball player who is out publicly. I want to help create a world where future generations of baseball players don't have to sacrifice authenticity or who they really are to play the game they love."
His coming out follows a summer in which Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib and Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop also came out as gay. After years of no actively out players in men's professional sports, now there are three.
Playing the guitar in his bedroom in recent months, with posters of Dierks Bentley and Cal Ripken Jr. hanging in the background, Ruby sang a song he's co-written that seems especially relevant given his purpose behind coming out.
"If that white line ever gets lonely, if the nights get a little too cold, if it don't work out, if you have your doubts, you've got a place to go."
Ruby's goal is clear: to help others who are forced to hide their identity, too.
Bryan Ruby, a 25-year-old openly gay athlete for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, has two careers where homophobia exists -- as a professional baseball player and country music songwriter.
"Being closeted for basically 10 years, it was a struggle the whole time," he said. "I used to hate myself. Hate how I felt. I'd ask why am I feeling this way?"
"I kept having people tell me, 'Be very cautious of who you tell' or 'They don't need to know your personal life.' The best way to describe the hiding as an athlete is like you're running with a weighted vest on," he said. "It's on all day and you can't take it off. I've been gradually taking that weight off."
Factor in Ruby's second career in Nashville – where he moonlights writing hits for HaydenJoseph and Xavier Joseph – and you've got two worlds that scream he's straight.
“As a country music songwriter, at first I thought being gay was a huge weakness,” said Ruby, who will be showcased in the upcoming documentary, "Out in Nashville." “There’s this genre about drinking beer and hooking up with girls in the back of the truck. Then I realized that I can bring something different to the table. Love songs don’t need to be gay or straight. And I’ve been able to write my best songs by being authentic.”
A supportive family, 'such courage'
Ruby trembled over the phone sitting parked in his black Dodge Ram truck with the wind blowing in the background.
"Mom, it's me ... I got a spot."
Tears flowed down his cheeks as he told his family in March that he made the Volcanoes roster.
A year ago, the future was uncertain for Ruby and the Volcanoes. A Class-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants from 1997 to 2020, the Volcanoes were not one of the teams invited to join Major League Baseball's newly created minor league structure. They eventually formed the Mavericks Independent League with three other teams based in the Salem, Oregon area.
Meanwhile, Ruby did not play last year, along with hundreds of other farmhands when minor league seasons at all levels were canceled because of COVD-19.
Bryan Ruby had a bat in his hands long before he knew he was different growing up.
"I didn't think I'd ever play (pro) baseball again," said Ruby, who has kept his career going internationally in six countries that include Austria, Chile, Germany, Guatemala, Peru, and Switzerland – all after a standout career at Vassar College. "I told myself I’d go to the end of the earth if it meant I could keep my baseball career alive. ...I've been a baseball player since I was seven or eight, way before I knew I was gay. It's the lens through which I see the world."
kgmets
BSB God
Mikeyank, I have a pic request: Last night in the Notre Dame vs. Florida State college football game, FSU quarterback Mackenzie Milton came off the bench in the 4th Quarter with FSU down 38-20 and led FSU in a furious comeback to tie the game at 38 all (Notre Dame won in OT when the FSU kicker missed his field goal and the ND kicker made his). But the big story was the life story of Mckenize: it was first game in three years, because in his last game he suffered a horrific leg injury which killed nerves, nearly had the leg amputated, had minimal hope of ever walking again, and pulled off a miracle of physical therapy to not only walk again but to return to college football last night. His family of course and even his surgeon were at the game. Since his best friend replaced him at his old school, Central Florida, rather than compete against his best friend to get his old job back, he transferred to FSU. Plus Mackenzie is drop dead handsome. So for all of these reasons, please see if you can find and post his pic! Thanks and enjoy your holiday starting at sundown tonight.
Yes I figured the shift positions were the major reason for players being out of their immediate zones of play. Still, it is amusing when you see a pitcher throw to an empty bag on a base. Or when you see a player steal a base totally uncontested.
But of course stealing home is even more exciting.
mikeyank
Long time forumite
kgmets
BSB God
My pleasure KG. And thank you for your good wishes! Very good looking young man.
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Thanks and Happy New Year once again!
I'm pretty sure we've had people post 1.5 hour long videos in here. I don't think there's a limit on YT vids. Just those of us in here with shorter attention spans much beyond 15 minutes. haha
Then there is no point to put up the Vintage videos even the shorter ones. Of course I only watch what interests me in a given video in fact that true of all videos I watch!!!
I think you’re only allowed to post videos that are on YouTube. Could be wrong tho.
kgmets
BSB God
Interesting video of Tom and teammate Matt who won an Olympic gold medal together. Very interesting that instead of calling Matty his teammate, rather hje refers to him as his "work husband." Wonder if Tom has sex with both of his husbands and if Tom is the wife bottom to both?
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