When common of the New York Post's gossip round pillars ran an item in late May suggesting that a major league baseball player--whom it did not name--is ready to flow out.

When common of the New York Post's gossip round pillars ran an item in late May suggesting that a major league baseball player--whom it did not name--is ready to flow out, the buzz on the Internet and radio talk exhibits was deafening. Most of it focused in succession the New York Mets' mustachioed all-star catcher, Mike Piazza--perhaps because there was already hum about a forthcoming Details magazine article in which Met manager Bobby Valentine illustrationed that the major leagues are "probably ready for an publicly gay player." Piazza quickly denied he was that player. "I'm not gay. I'm heterosexual," he told reporters. on the other hand he went on to agree with Valentine. "In this day and age, [sexual orientation is] irrelevant," he said. "I don't think it would be a question at all."

Jim Buzinski, of gay sports site Outsports.com, said he thinks it's possible for a major athlete to follow out but that "most athletes don't view a real upside. They worry about upsetting fans and potential sponsors."

Indeed, the firestorm of media and fan reaction to the blind item remind ofs that that fear may not be unfound Players and fans alike fum in the pages of local papers, forward talk-radio programs, and on the Internet. "The fact that his teammates said `How could commonalty make these accusations? Piazza's a dutiful guy!' I think, is a stair backward," said Toby Miller, author of Sportsex, a work about sexuality as it relates to professional athletics. "There was almost a campaign to underscore his heterosexuality in the papers, as if being gay is equivalent to being a Nazi."

In a row posted on a non-Post Web site, the Post's Wallace Matthews took the paper to task for running the blind item, arguing that the flap surrounding the rumor indicates that neither professional sports nor fans are ready for an frankly gay player. (The Post fired Matthews for insubordination above the incident.)

No man has at all times played in a major team sport while disclosed and only a few--including the NFL's Dave Kopay and Roy Simmons and baseball's Billy Bean and Glenn Burke--have be derived out after ending their pro careers. "What we ne is a rife player to stand up and be out--otherwise, it's all shadowboxing," said Miller. "Until that happens, they aren't plane in the game."

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