Well, I would say that A-Rod is certainly a possibility. Though I’d like to tip my hat the ol’ Big Unit on this one.
We love you, Randy.
Hey, the cool thing about bashing and restricting gays is that homophobes seem to be able to get away with saying “I’m not anti-gay, I just don’t think they should be (insert fundamental human right, such as marriage, here.)” In other words, I’m not ANTI GAY, I’m just opposed to them existing.
Actually, you can’t tell the difference betwen three sports. 
Rugby is rugby union, a very different (albeit related) game again to rugby league. Australian football is the big winter sport in the Southern States (Victoria, Tasmania, South and Western Australia. It has a much smaller following in New South Wales and Queensland, where league (despite recent trauma) is still king. Union’s popularity is also greatest in those two states. Cricket is the only sport intensely followed across the country. [/hijack]
I think few Japanese players were signed by US baseball because at one time they weren’t good enough, and they were well-treated at home. I remember when Masanori Murakami pitched for the SF Giants in 1964-65. Murakami was a top star in Japan; in the US he was merely a decent relief pitcher. Also, it was hard for the Giants to sign him, because he was well-paid in Japan. In fact, IIRC he returned to Japan, because he got a better deal there.
I am struck by jamesblan’s casual; accusation of anti-Asian bigotry without evidence. We wouldn’t call people Commies without evidence; why is OK to call them racists?
FWIW my guess is that people fo today who freely make accusations of racism are motivated similarly to old-time red-baiters. This name for this practice is “Racial McCarthyism.”
Try telling that to Wen Ho Lee.
One quick important rule about rugby (league or union) - you can only be tackled if you hold the ball. So if you play the position that Ian Roberts played (prop), and are expected to run a hell of a lot with the ball trying to make the hard yards, you expect to get smashed some, and are generally considered one of the tougher types in the game. Coupled with the fact that Roberts was considered one hell of a fighter (he could throw some damn good punches), he was left some what alone.
It also helps he was a pro sportsman in Sydney, which is a little bit easier going on homosexuals than most places elsewhere in the world…
cheers
Tennis? Billie Jean, et al. - check. Baseball? Above-mentioned player and an umpire - check. Football? Hrm, that one’s a little harder.
I guess the butcher the sport, the more likely people are to stay in the closet, because believe me, there are plenty of professional gay athletes out there. Is it time for one to stand up and be counted? Perhaps, but I wouldn’t be the one to pressure anyone to do it before they were ready. It’ll happen, eventually. Hell, even Ellen is getting another show!
Esprix
Actually, that’s quite incorrect; Murakami was just a kid who had not even played in the Japanese League yet. The Murakami story is actually fairly complicated, but the jist of it is that Murakami NEVER wanted to pitch in the USA and the Giants basically snookered him into staying.
Murakami was one of several exchange players given to the Giants by the Nankai Hawks for 1964 to get experience in the U.S. minors; he was only 20 at the time. Murakami, however, was SO overpowering that he obviously outclassed the U.S. minors, so the Giants brought him up to the big leagues late in the 1964 season, getting in 15 innings.
Murakami has his bags pakced and was ready to head back to Japan when the Giants suddenly informed him and the Hawks that he could not leave. The fine print in the Hawks-Giants deal was that the Giants had the right to buy the contract of any player who made the major leagues, which nobody had anticipated. So suddenly Murakami’s a major leaguer, although he doesn’t want to be. The Hawks told Murakami to forget it and come back anyway, but the commissioner of baseball, Ford Frick, informed the Japanese League that all relations would be cut off if Murakami broke the contract. So a deal was brokered where Murakami would stay for a year upon which he would be granted free agency, and that broke the impasse.
Murakami, 21 years old in 1965, struck out 85 men in 74 innings, allowed only about seven hits per nine innings, and had excellent control. He was an AWESOME pitching talent, in other words; he was still raw, but anyone who’s blowing away better than a man per inning and walking only a quarter as many is headed for big, big things.
There was no anti-Asian bias against Murakami - the Giants wanted him to stay so bad they more or less scammed him and the JL. Murakami was a tremendous pitcher, and everyone knew it. He was also a huge fan favourite for the novelty and for his habit of bowing to Willie Mays whenever Willie made a great play behind him.
Anyway, at the end of the season Murakami signed with the Hawks and left the US. He had some good years in the Japanese League but - like virtually ALL pitchers who are brought up to the big leagues that young - he developed serious arm problems and never realized his full potential. He had a big year for Nankai in 1968, going 18-4, but he lost most of the velocity on his fastball by the time he was 27 and started struggling. They dumped him on the Hanshin Tigers, where he lasted only one injury-plagued year, and he ended up his career with the Nippon Ham Fighters as a reliever, where he got some of his arm strength back and had a few pretty good years. He retired in 1982 with a career record of 103-82.