Romance at home! Ex-MLB player TJ House announced their engagement to Ryan Neitzelpublicly revealing his sexuality for the first time.
The former athlete, 33, came out as gay in a recent Facebook post, sharing footage from an engagement photo shoot. “To like. It’s a simple word, with a lot of weight and meaning,” House wrote. “Each of us defines love in a different way, but deep down, we all want to feel the same. To be loved by someone who only wants the best for you, going through life’s trials side by side. Some say we choose who we love as if love doesn’t come out of the darkest corner of your life, when you least expect it, and casts you into a magical spell that lifts you out of loneliness.
House continued, “I have struggled all my life to be comfortable in my own skin. I deliberately distanced myself from people to try to protect myself. It’s disheartening how one simple thing can change someone’s opinion of you in seconds. It’s taken me years to wake up every morning and tell myself that you are loved for you, the one deep inside me that you never really let out.
The Louisiana native, who once played for the Cleveland Guardians and the Toronto Blue Jays, reflected on being “carried away” by the praise he has received from baseball fans over the years.
“I’ve been loved all my life for what I’ve done for a career. … Ultimately, it’s a bandage that covers a wound that needs fresh air to heal,” he added. “You have to snatch it at some point if you really want to improve. Shame has silenced me all these years, but love has finally set me free.
House remembers being a 23-year-old athlete in Cleveland “alive [his] childhood dream” of playing professional sports. “I devoted all my energy to it, also using it as a drug [sic] numbed what was really going on inside. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every moment of my gaming days… [but] I came home every night wishing I could change. Deep down I wanted something more, I wanted to be loved not for what I had done, but for who I was,” he explained.
The pitcher, who left the league in 2017, said he would do it again — “with a big change” — if given the chance. He also conceded that he “gave very few” people the opportunity to see his true colors.
“It is difficult to listen to people talking about you without them knowing that the words they are saying are addressed to you,” he wrote, referring to the recent passage of the Respect for Marriage Act by the US Congress. “[The bill] allows Ryan Neitzel and I to come together and create something beautiful. It gives me the confidence to get engaged to the person I love (he said yes!), to marry him. I have a wonderful fiancé, who challenges me daily to be a better person. To live life authentically. One I never deserved but blessed to have. I love you see, it’s for everyone.
House concluded, “I’m finally healing, and days like today are what help me continue to be the person I’ve always been, the one I’ve locked away for over 20 years.”
The couple received kudos from other baseball pros, including the pitcher Danny Burawa, who commented, “Happy and proud of you bro. Best wishes for the future.
Billy Bean, a former outfielder and current senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for MLB, told the Outsports of House announcement: “This is a great day for the league and baseball. .” (The 58-year-old California native came out in 1999, becoming the second baseball pro to do so.)
Before going public with her story, House dedicated a cute Instagram post to her husband-to-be in September. “‘After all this time?’ Said Dumbledore. “Always,” the realtor wrote in the caption, citing Harry Potter. “Happy 8 revolves around the sun @r_neitzel.”
