MLB umpire Dale Scott: ‘I wasn’t intimidated by threats to out me as gay’

In a book looking back at his career, veteran umpire says baseball is a more accepting place than many people assume

Major League Baseball umpire Dale Scott made history in 2014. He came out as gay, the first MLB umpire to do so. It was big enough news that Jimmy Fallon joked about it on The Tonight Show - Well, he says he's out, but the other umps said he's safe. So now they gotta look at replay."

But during Scott's 37-year career in pro baseball, his identity was no laughing matter. He feared the repercussions if he was outed, especially in his early seasons, which coincided with the Aids crisis. Now retired, Scott reflects on his years in the pros in a new memoir, The Umpire is Out: Calling the Game and Living My True Self, co-written with Rob Neyer.