Former Cardinals pitcher: ‘I quit when teammates said they wanted to kill gays’

After spending one season in the Minor Leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, pitcher Tyler Dunnington quit the team upon hearing teammates and a coach talk about wanting to kill gay people.

He tells Outsports, “I wanted to share my story with you.”

My name’s Tyler Dunnington, and I was a 28th-round pick by the St Louis Cardinals in the 2014 MLB Draft. I was one of the not-so-many players to be given a chance to pursue my dream of being a Major League Baseball player.

I was also one of the unfortunate closeted gay athletes who experienced years of homophobia in the sport I loved. I was able to take most of it with a grain of salt but towards the end of my career I could tell it was affecting my relationships with people, my performance, and my overall happiness.

I experienced both coaches and players make remarks on killing gay people during my time in baseball, and each comment felt like a knife to my heart. I was miserable in a sport that used to give me life, and ultimately I decided I needed to hang up my cleats for my own sanity.

After a little over a year of being gone from the game I’ve come to realize I thought I was choosing happiness over being miserable. That is not necessarily the case. My passion still lies in baseball, and removing myself from the game didn’t change that. Most of the greatest memories I have are with this sport. After gaining acceptance from my friends and family I realized I didn’t have to quit baseball to find happiness.

I not only wanted to share my story but also apologize for not using the stage I had to help change the game. Quitting isn’t the way to handle adversity, and I admire the other athletes acting as trailblazers.”

According to ABC News, the St. Louis Cardinals are taking the allegations “very seriously.”

“This is very disappointing and our hope is that every player, staff member and employee feels that they are treated equally and fairly,” said Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak in a statement. “Given the nature of these allegations, I will certainly look into this further.”

Great. Bernsie will have another hero on this afternoon.

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Elections have consequences.

I think this proves we need to reopen the Darryl Kile death case.

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I feel like you're being sarcastic calling him a hero

It does take a certain measure of balls to speak out, I think

The only thing the Cardinals love more than killing gays is getting CRUNK like the St Lunatics that they are

The Cubbie Blue way isn't like that. Gay? Hop on the bandwagon. Black, Mexican, Asian, etc? Come join us. All are welcome...except the Jews, for obvious reasons.

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as long as you are happy being insulted with stereotypes if you are Japanese, everything will be cool

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

You seem pretty ok with polish ones. The irish ones are flying around like crazy today.

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Bugs me to this day that I didn't buy that shirt when I had the chance.

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Nice!

Well,I guess that shoots the Richard Simmons Cardinal tryout in the ass!

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Yeah this is a worthwhile story obviously. The extent with which I expect B&B to take it is not to me.

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Elections have consequences.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don