419. Pro Baseball Player/Country Music Artist Bryan Ruby

Bryan Ruby is a career minor-league baseball player. Many of those seasons have been in the Independent Leagues, most recently with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. In September of 2021, he became the only active professional baseball player to come out as gay, and his story was featured in USA Today as well as 100+ other media outlets around the world including CBS, Yahoo, Bleacher Report, and Teen Vogue, among others. Ruby is also a country music songwriter, having written chart-topping music for other artists. He recently began releasing his own music. The Nashville-based country artist recently released a cover version of the John Fogerty classic baseball anthem, “Centerfield.” It is currently available on Spotify and other streaming services.

In this episode, Ruby discusses coming out publicly during his playing career. He also gets into a frank, open discussion about LGBTQ+ in all sports, and how so many are still in the closet. He explained the reaction his teammates had when they became aware. He also talked about recent controversies including the 2022-2023 NHL Pride Nights and the players who refused to wear themed warm-up jerseys. He also tackled the controversial discussion of transgender athletes playing sports.

Ruby is the founder of a first-of-its-kind charity, Proud To Be In Baseball, which supports and encourages LGBTQ+ youth in the sport. Proud To Be In Baseball, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating, educating, and creating opportunities for the next generation of LGBTQ baseball players.

Follow Bryan Ruby on all forms of social media @bryanrubyofficial.