David Lamont Denson (born January 17, 1995) is an American former
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Moder ...
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
and
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
. He played in
Minor League Baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
(MiLB) for the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...
organization. In 2015, Denson became the first active player affiliated with a
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
organization to publicly
come out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
as
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
.
Career
As a high school senior at
South Hills High School in
West Covina, California
West Covina is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located east of downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, it is part of Greater Los Angeles Area, Greater Los Angeles. The population for the city was 109,501 ...
in December 2012, Denson hit a
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
(HR) in an annual amateur
home run derby
The Home Run Derby is an annual home run hitting competition in Major League Baseball (MLB) customarily held the day before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, MLB All-Star Game, which places the contest on a Monday in July. In the context ...
. The home run broke a distance record set by
Bryce Harper
Bryce Aron Max Harper (born October 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball first baseman and right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Washington Nationals.
One o ...
in 2009. Denson proceeded to win the contest with 19 home runs. A
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
video of his record homer went viral, drawing over one million viewers.
Denson played high school baseball in 2013 for the first time since his freshman year.
[ He was a Sierra League first-team selection after leading South Hills to a league championship while batting .446 with seven HRs, 11 doubles, two ]triples
TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...
and 27 runs batted in
A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...
(RBIs).
The Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...
selected Denson in the 15th round of the 2013 MLB Draft
The 2013 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Each team received one selection per round, going in reverse order of t ...
. He signed with Milwaukee for $100,000. Denson played for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a town on the outskirts of Appleton in the Fox Cities, and are nam ...
of the Class A Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
for most of 2014; in 68 games, he had a .243 batting average with four home runs and 29 RBIs. He began the 2015 season with Wisconsin, but after batting .195 with one home run and eight RBIs in 24 games, he was demoted to the Helena Brewers
The Helena Brewers were a Minor League Baseball team in the Pioneer League located in Helena, Montana, from 1978 to 2018. The team played their home games at Kindrick Legion Field, which was built in 1939. They were affiliated with the Milwaukee ...
of the Rookie-level
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...
Pioneer League. With Helena, Denson was selected to play in the Northwest–Pioneer League All-Star Game
An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...
. He was honored as the MiLB.com Top Star for the Pioneer League after hitting a pinch-hit
In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, Am ...
home run while going 2-for-3 along with two RBIs and two runs scored.[ In late August, the Brewers promoted Denson back to Wisconsin.
After playing primarily as a ]first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
through the 2015 season, Denson became an outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
for the 2016 season. He began the 2016 season with Wisconsin, and was later promoted to the Brevard County Manatees
The Brevard County Manatees were a minor league baseball team of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League from 1994 to 2016. They were based in Viera, Florida, Viera, Florida, and played their home games at Space Coast Stadium. The team left Brev ...
of the Class A-Advanced
High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...
Florida State League
The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...
. During spring training
Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...
in 2017, Denson announced his retirement from professional baseball.
Personal life
Denson's father, Lamont, is a former athlete. His sister, Celestine, is a professional dancer.[
During the 2015 season, while playing for Helena, Denson ]came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
as gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
to his teammates. In August 2015, with the help of Billy Bean
William Daro Bean (May 11, 1964 – August 6, 2024) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers (1987–1989), Los Angeles Dodgers (1989), and San Diego Padres ...
, Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
's (MLB) Ambassador for Inclusion, Denson contacted the ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the G ...
'' so that he could come out publicly. Denson became the first active player within a Major League Baseball organization to come out to the public. He was also the second active pro baseball player to have come out.
See also
*List of LGBT sportspeople
This is a list of notable, openly lesbian, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, Pansexuality, pansexual, and transgender Athlete, sportspeople as well as those who identify as belonging to the broader queer community.
List
...
Notes
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denson, David
1995 births
Living people
People from La Puente, California
Baseball players from Los Angeles County, California
Baseball first basemen
Baseball outfielders
Arizona League Brewers players
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players
Helena Brewers players
American gay sportsmen
LGBTQ people from California
LGBTQ baseball players
Brevard County Manatees players
21st-century American sportsmen
21st-century American LGBTQ people
Bishop Amat Memorial High School alumni