Former baseball player Mae Blair has publicly came out as a lesbian at age 95 at the Tribeca Festival premier of the Amazon Studios series, “A League of Their Own.”
Serving as a consultant for the series, Maybelle Blair– fondly known as “All the Way Mae”– was a member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) that inspired the 1992 sports movie, “A League of Their Own,” of which the Amazon series is adapted from.
In addition to her long baseball and softball careers, Blair has also been a major advocate for women’s baseball and softball and is currently working to get a museum built for the International Women’s Baseball Center.
The video of her coming out at the panel was posted on the show’s official Instagram and Twitter accounts.
It was captioned, “For the majority of her life, sports legend 95-year-old AAGPBL player, Maybelle Blair felt like she had to hide her authentic self. Today she came out publicly for the first time.”
“We couldn’t be happier for her, and continue to push for love, acceptance, and education on and off the field,” it said.
Mae Blair shows support for young queer athletes
In her coming out speech at the Amazon Studios panel, Blair expressed happiness that players no longer had to hide their sexual orientations in the league and for the increasing acceptance for queer athletes.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for these young girl ball players to come [to] realize that they’re not alone, and you don’t have to hide,” Blair shared.
She added, “I hid for 75, 85 years and this is actually basically the first time I’ve ever come out.”
Blair also recounted experiences of realizing and coming into her identity in her youth.
One positive experience she mentioned was her first experience at a gay bar: “I went back to Chicago, and I got on the team, and I’ll tell ya, it was the most amazing time of my life because they asked me to go out to a bar.”
“Well, it turned out to be a gay bar, and I was never so happy in my life.” She shared.
‘A League of Their Own’ series to feature queer representation
The upcoming “A League of Their Own” series, co-created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson, contains the same premise as the movie.
It follows the formation of a World War II-era women’s professional baseball team while the men are out at war.
Unlike the original Penny Marshall film, Amazon’s new sports series is to showcase greater diversity, particularly black and queer representation.
The series includes a black, transgender character who will appear partway into the show.
“A League of Their Own” is to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on August 12.