So Long, David Denison

I was saddened recently to hear of the retirement of Brewers farmhand David Denson. As you might know, Denson became the first affiliated professional baseball player to come out as gay while still active back in 2015. I've always admired people with the kind of courage to do what Denson did, and the fact that he was making history as a member of the Brewers organization made it even more special. Denson was never much more than a fringe prospect - he had filthy power but pretty significant contact issues. His road to the show would have involved a lot of long-shots and, given the poverty wages that players of Denson's level make, he decided that a career as a personal trainer was the best fit for him.



I recently pickup up a signed 2016 Topps pro debut card of Denson for a few bucks on eBay. I already had a certified Bowman auto card, but this one was unique for its back-side bio...



I like that Topps did that. Thinking back to when I was a kid, it would have been unimaginable to think of a baseball card mentioning that a player was gay. But hopefully, this all makes it easier for the next player to come out and will, eventually, lead to a time when the idea of mentioning that a player is gay again becomes as a strange as it was when I was a kid - not because it's a forbidden topic, but because it's so commonplace that no one cares anymore.