Bryan Ruby has become the only active professional baseball player at any level to be publicly out, according to USA Today.
He's a professional baseball player—a member of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, an Oregon team that's a charter member of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League. Also, Ruby's a country-music songwriter, having written two songs that reached the charts.
"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.
