Gay Fans Go All Out for Baseball"Well, darling, I've got some news for you," longtime AIDS activist Cornelius Baker recalls being told. On the other end of the phone was Brent Minor, president of a gay sports group called Team DC. His exciting news was that a secret committee had picked Baker to be the first openly gay person to throw the opening pitch at a game of the Washington Nationals, the Major League Baseball team in the nation's capital. "We had a nice little giggle," Baker recalls. But reality quickly set in: Minor is athletic — he once did an Olympic-level triathlon, which is a near-one-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike ride and 6.2-mile run, in drag. Baker is not. In fact, he'd never even touched a baseball. The last time he'd thrown a softball was in sixth grade — and that was underhand. His historic pitch was to be a featured attraction at the Nationals' third annual gay-friendly "Night Out." The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington would sing the National Anthem, then, with 2,000 gay and lesbian fans — not to mention everyone else in the stadium and TV viewers — watching, Baker would have to perform. He had just 10 days to train. His boyfriend, Greg, sent him a YouTube video of the mayor of Cincinnati accidentally throwing sideways. "Don't let this happen," Greg warned. Baker traveled to Atlanta, where his newfound coaches — Greg and Greg's brother — made him spend hours practicing in the heat, "with mosquitoes and no bug spray." The National's "Night Out" game for which Baker was training was part of a crackerjack trend in Major League Baseball that started with the Chicago Cubs in 2001 and includes the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. Before he knew it, Baker was on the pitcher's mound to open the July 16 contest between the Nationals and the Houston Astros.
"I had to get that ball over home plate. To do anything short of that would confirm a stereotype," Baker says. "I suddenly knew what it was to be a pitcher. And the only thing in the world was the ball." His pitch flew in the proper direction and ended up in the mitt of smiling Nationals catcher Jesus Flores. An umpire would have a called it a "ball," Baker says. History calls it a breakthrough. While the night was mostly about having a good time, Baker believes the team's many warm acknowledgements of its gay cheering section set a wonderful example for its heterosexual fans and players. "Those are the victories that can't be legislated," Baker says. More than a third of Major League Baseball teams have had gay nights, says Mark Kari, who added the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004. Kari's gaybaseballdays.com tells gay fans how to approach their home teams. Teams quickly find anti-gay protests are rare. "Those few incidents backfired because straight people got to see what gay people have to put up with," Kari says. So, if you want another ball team to host a "Night Out," follow Cornelius Baker's delightful example: Make a strong pitch. Deb Price of The Detroit News writes the first nationally syndicated column on gay issues. To find out more about Deb Price and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
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