Sean Conroy

Sean Conroy is a former American professional baseball pitcher from Clifton Park, New York. He competed for the Sonoma Stompers of the Pacific Association.[1] He was the first openly gay player to appear in an American professional baseball game, which happened in 2015.[2] Conroy is prominently featured in the book The Only Rule Is It Has to Work, by Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller.[3]

For the Irish squash player, see Sean Conroy (squash player).
Sean Conroy
Sonoma Stompers
Pitcher
Born: (1992-03-18) March 18, 1992
Clifton Park, New York
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Teams

Early life

Sean Conroy was born on March 18, 1992. He grew up in Clifton Park, New York. He came out to friends and family at the age of 16. He was open about his sexuality with teammates at both the high school and collegiate levels.[4]

College Baseball

Conroy attended NCAA Division III Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he pitched for the Engineers baseball team.[5] During his time at RPI, he amassed a 21-7 record with a 2.05 ERA. He struck out 223 batters in 259 innings of work. His senior season success earned him D3baseball.com second team All American honors, along with first team All-New York region honors.[6]

Professional Baseball

Following his senior season at RPI, Sean Conroy signed with the Sonoma Stompers of the Pacific Association. The team had never seen him pitch before, but signed him as a result of his impressive statistics at RPI. The team did not know his sexuality at the time of his signing. Upon his arrival Conroy began the process of telling individual teammates, and eventually owner Eric Gullotta.[7] Conroy made his debut after publicly coming out on June 25, 2015 during the team's "Pride Night" game. Conroy pitched a complete game shutout while striking out 11 batters.[8] Conroy finished the season with a record of 5-3 while maintaining at 2.70 ERA. He also earned 10 saves.[9] In 2016, Conroy went 4-2 with a 5.02 ERA.[10] Conroy retired from baseball in 2017.[11]

See also

References
  1. Sonoma Stompers Roster
  2. Sean Conroy becomes first openly gay professional baseball player
  3. Lindbergh, Ben; Miller, Sam (3 May 2016). The Only Rule is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team. ISBN 978-1627795647.
  4. "Sean Conroy, the First Active Pro Baseball Player to Come Out, Discusses the Future"
  5. Sean Conroy RPI Baseball biography
  6. "Sean Conroy of RPI picks up honors"
  7. Article in Slate
  8. NBC Bay Area
  9. Sonoma Stompers 2015 pitching statistics
  10. Sonoma Stompers 2016 pitching statistics
  11. “ LGBT Sports history: Sean Conroy was pro baseball’s first gay active player”
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