ESPN Poll: 81 Percent Of Pro Baseball Players Believe MLB is Ready For Openly Gay Athlete

In February, Joe Girardi, manager of the New York Yankees, stated that he believed major league baseball is ready for an openly gay player. Now, a poll by ESPN The Magazine helps confirm his suspicions. The informal questionnaire asked a group of players if they agreed with Girardi's statement and a resounding 81% replied affirmatively.

GLAAD reported on a couple of player's responses:

NL All-Star: "We come in here and we're all trying to do the same thing. Who cares what a guy does in his own time?"

NL infielder: "Are there people who are going to give a guy a hard time? Yeah, but not too many. There will be a couple of jerks. But the majority of people are going to be like, 'So what?'"

Now we wait with bated breath for the big day!

Image via ESPN The Magazine infographic.