It sure caused quite a stir recently when the editor of Out magazine wrote that he was dating a major leaguer and implored him to finally come out of the closet. Seems to me that if a big league player thinks the way to keep his lifestyle secret is by going out with the editor of the nation's largest-circulation gay publication, perhaps he should start dating the editor of Idiot magazine instead.

But the shock and horror that so many talk-radio boneheads displayed at the idea of a homosexual ballplayer lurking in a major league clubhouse somewhere raised the question of what was more limited: these people's tolerance for an estimated 6 percent of the U.S. population, or their understanding of baseball itself.

There are many gay players in baseball. There are also surely gay umpires, groundskeepers and sportswriters. They're even in the stands. The renegade Twins have become so popular that the team is hosting a July event by the gay magazine Lavender dubbed "Out in the Stands." Run for the hills!

When asked on live radio what I thought of the prospect of a gay major leaguer, I had little choice but to respond quite simply, "It's none of my business." After having invited 30 minutes of callers' homophobic rants the host could only yelp, "But we're the media!"

As a member of that media, that grand protector of veneration and virtue, I had the misfortune of conducting a player poll a few years ago for the late Sport magazine, in which the editor insisted one question be, "Would you have a problem playing with a homosexual teammate?" Thankfully, the players didn't look at me with the same venom shown by Vince McMahon when, after he proclaimed his XFL would not be a league for sissies, I asked whom he was referring to. "I think I'm looking at one now," he spat.

Most major leaguers thought the poll question was pretty stupid. While a surprising number of the roughly 100 players I polled said they would be uncomfortable with having a gay player on the team -- 39 percent, to be exact -- 61 percent said they would have no problem at all.

A few went on to respond more fully, in many ways illustrating how cowardly it was to even ask the question, a thinly-veiled attempt to catalyze a controversy where one does not exist. These are some of the comments a few players chose to make:

· Preston Wilson: "I probably already have [played with a gay teammate]. If you do your job between the lines, I couldn't care less what you do when you leave. It's nobody's business anyway."

· Mike Timlin: "I already have, knowingly, and it wasn't a problem."

· Shawon Dunston: "There's a lot of them playing."

Some expressed concern about showering or dressing among homosexual teammates -- showing more ignorance than enmity -- while Jason Kendall smiled and quipped, "No, as long as they don't try to pick me up." But the best answer came from David Cone, who saw no reason to smile and was offended at even being asked.

"No," he snapped scoldingly. "Why should I?"

Perhaps the most stark social change in the past 20 years has been how homosexuality has gone from horrifying to almost hip. Not to downplay the considerable difficulty gay men and women still face, but the culture is accelerating toward acceptance. One of television's most popular shows, "Will and Grace," features men kissing, for crying out loud.

Will and Grace? Should we check out tapes of the 1989 NLCS and see if Clark and Mark were ever at first base? Just what do those pats on the butt mean? The whole issue is silly. There are gay players throughout the majors. Get over it.

Of course, the first player to acknowledge his lifestyle publicly -- or have the salacious search for it started by his boyfriend's opportunistic column -- will be deluged with interviews and abuse, as if there's much of a difference anymore. Male team sports could possibly become the last frontier for gay approbation because of, you know, all the testosterone and all.

But as Billy Bean, the former big leaguer who disclosed his homosexuality following his 1995 retirement, told Newsday, "This is not about pushing people out on a plank and saying, 'Jump and lead us.' " It should come out voluntarily and naturally, as if to say, "It's no big deal."

Because it isn't.

Alan Schwarz, senior writer for Baseball America, is a frequent contributor to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. This column is adapted with permission from the next issue of Baseball America.