News from Queens

There's a tempest in baseball's teapot about the New York Post's not-quite-revelation that the Mets might be secretly harboring a gay ballplayer. In response, catcher Mike Piazza held a press conference to announce that it's not him. Well, super.

This re-raises the question of whether baseball could handle a coming-out party. Salon's King Kaufman says that there's a small minority still in baseball that would be horrified. But most of the players, and in fact most of the fans, have no illusions about the fact that there are undoubtedly dozens of gay players already, just waiting for the one who will make the first step out of the dugout, as it were. Phillies skipper Larry Bowa sums it up pretty well: "If [the first openly gay player] hits .340 it probably would be easier than if he hits .220." Two ballplayers came out in the '80s, but after their playing days were over, and neither one was a household name. If it were Piazza, a superstar (and I'm not trying to name names, but he did come up rather prominently in this discussion), it makes no sense for even the most reactionary Met to do anything to hurt his relationship with the team. And most people, honestly, really don't care. I wouldn't be too sure about those Cincinnati fans, though.

You may know that the walls have been breached in baseball when someone picks Frankie Goes to Hollywood as their walk-up music. Maybe the Twins will announce that the guys on their old logo aren't actual twins, but "longtime companions." Maybe, in fact, there's more to the Clemens-Piazza feud than we knew all along.

Anyway, what's the hullabaloo about? The Devil Rays have been out all year. 15 games out.