LOS ANGELES - MLB executive Billy Bean has died at age 60.
According to the league on Tuesday, Bean – who was MLB's senior vice president for diversity equity and inclusion – died after a battle with leukemia.
Bean is considered a pioneer in MLB as he was among the first openly gay players in baseball. Bean publicly came out in 1999, four years after his final season in the Big Leagues.
In his playing days, Bean played six seasons in MLB (1987-1989, 1993-1995). He had a brief stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second half of the 1989 season before spending most of 1990 and 1991 seasons in the minors.
He spent a year with Nippon Professional Baseball's Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1992 before returning to the U.S. in the 1993-1995 MLB seasons.
The Dodgers issued the following statement after learning of Bean's death:
"We mourn the passing of Billy Bean, a former Dodger and pioneering executive who as MLB’s Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion truly elevated the culture and spirit of the game he loved."