MLB umpire Dale Scott comes out as gay

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball umpire Dale Scott says he is gay, the latest such disclosure in sports.

The 55-year-old told the website Outsports.com he married Michael Rausch in November 2013 and that MLB and the other umpires were aware of his sexuality.

Scott has been a member of the big league staff since 1986 and is a crew chief. He worked the World Series in 1998, 2001 and 2004.

Scott said he made a deliberate decision to go public in a low-key manner without "some banner headline."

"That's not how I operate," he was quoted as saying by Outsports. "It's not a shock to MLB management because they're well aware of my situation and it's not a shock to the umpire staff. If it would have been, I don't think I would have done it."

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig praised Scott.

"To his friends and colleagues throughout the game, Dale is universally regarded as a class act," he said in a statement. "All of us at Major League Baseball are very proud of him, just as we have always been."