trailblazer

This young baseball broadcaster is already one of the most accomplished gay announcers in sports

By
Eric Bach

We often talk about the dearth of LGBTQ+ representation in male pro sports. But that hole isn’t just confined to the playing field.

It goes all the way up to the announcers booth.

One young broadcaster, however, is determined to change that.

The New York Times recently profiled Eric Bach, the out gay play-by-play voice for the Fredericksburg Nationals, a minor-league affiliate of the Washington Nationals. At 24 years old, Brach believes he’s the only out gay broadcaster in baseball.

With that, comes constraints.

“My filter of what I can say and where I am is turned up to 11 all the time when I’m at work” he said.

Brach told his story at a young age, publishing his coming-out essay on Outsports as a student at Michigan State. In it, the ex-high school quarterback extols the freedom of living as an out gay man.

“The feeling of coming out and being accepted by those you love for who you are, not who you love, is one of the most liberating and strengthening feelings,” he wrote. “For my own sanity, I wish I would have come out sooner.”

When Bach graduated school in 2021, he took a job with an independent baseball team in North Carolina before leaving to work for Lenoir-Rhyne, a small private school in the Tar Heel State. That was where Bach received his first batch of homophobic hate mail. He says the letter, which came from an opposing fan, called him “every gay slur you could think of.”

“It was almost like, ‘It finally happened,’” he said.

One year later, Bach doesn’t think of the letter often. As the lead broadcaster for the Nationals’ Single-A affiliate, he’s already one of the most accomplished out gay male announcers in team sports.

While it’s a tremendous accomplishment, being the only one can feel lonely.

“Those of us that are in this very small minority in sports have to keep on having these conversations, keep on working really frickin’ hard to earn your spot in this space,” he told the NYT.

There are a few high-profile out LGBTQ+ sports media personalities: ESPN’s Izzy Gutierrez, LZ Granderson of the LA Times, trailblazing San Francisco Chronicle sports editor Christian Kahrl. Kate Scott, who identifies as LGBTQ+, is the play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia 76ers.

There’s also Steve Buckley of The Athletic and Chuck Culpepper of the Washington Post. But that’s pretty much it.

When Bach is interacting with players and coaches, he knows he’s in their world, so to speak. “I feel like that’s the burden a lot of gay people live with — trying to be perfect for straight people,” he said.

Major League Baseball is making strides to become more inclusive. The league hired Billy Bean, an out gay former player, as its ambassador for inclusion in 2014. Since then, we’ve seen a couple of minor league players come out, including Anderson Comas, who’s currently living his best life making his way through the Chicago White Sox’ system.

Nearly every team hosts a Pride Night as well (the Texas Rangers are the lone exception).

Of course, this year’s Pride season was filled with controversy, most notably the feigned outrage over the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Though initiatives are nice, Bach says visibility is the best way to combat ignorance.

“People on the ground just being visible and existing and thriving in the baseball space is the way it gets better,” he said.

And he’s leading the way.

Scroll down for more shots of Bach, and some of his most recent calls…

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