In a moving post released online, Boston Red Sox executive David Baggs has come out as gay after hearing an inspirational speech from former MLB player Billy Bean.

Bean, who came out in 1999 and now serves as the league's Vice-President, Social Responsibility & Inclusion, gave the speech to the Boston Red Sox front office this past week. Baggs, who works as a senior sales manager for the Red Sox, was at the presentation and felt so moved by Bean's story that he decided to formally come out in an editorial for Out Sports.

The post opens with a letter Baggs sent the Red Sox executive board after hearing Bean. In it, he says that "witnessing leaders" of the organization "stand in solidarity with an openly gay man within MLB is something [he] thought [he'd] never see."

He goes on to say that "as a Boston kid who happened to fall into a sports career...[he's] kept [his] sexuality a 'poorly' kept secret...none of which makes an ounce of sense anymore. Those days are over."

The rest of the post details his path toward self-acceptance. He writes that he "didn't pursue a career in sports for years" because he didn't think "someone who was gay could work in sports," admitting that he never "straight-up lied" about who he was, but that he'd "shift the story" out of fear for losing his career.

He says that seeing Bean speak with such honesty about his life (from playing in the MLB, to getting married, to getting divorced, to watching his partner die of AIDS in 1994) made him feel like it was time for him to speak with full conviction about his own.

"In professional sports I've learned that, like everyone else, I need to hustle, work hard, hold myself to a high level of grit... and most importantly be myself," he writes. "If I can't do that, I can't make it in any endeavor, including sports."

He concludes: "I am so happy to finally, completely, be true to myself."

The Boston Red Sox will host their annual Pride Night at Fenway Park tonight in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.