Red, white and gold lanterns lit up the New York City skyline as a crowd walked a mile down South Street Seaport. Among the hundreds of participants, 30 Major League Baseball employees wearing navy blue T-shirts with “Bean 4” on the back hoisted gold lanterns in honor of Billy Bean, a friend and colleague who passed away Aug. 6 after an 11-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

"Light the Night" is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s annual fundraising event to raise money for blood cancer research and support for patients. This year, the MLB Women Employee Resource Group invited peers to join in the event on Oct. 24, to celebrate Bean’s legacy at MLB.

The team raised $18,800 to help fund research and support for patients and their families.

“When we kicked off the walk, they made you walk through this small tunnel-type thing that has twinkle lights on the side. So as we're walking through that, for me as an organizer and somebody that was deeply invested in this, I just had a moment of, ‘Wow, we did this,’” said associate director of enterprise products and MLB Women ERG co-chair Ariana Smith. “It sucks that Billy's not here. But man, would he be proud of us for coming together, doing this, rallying, pushing everybody to be the best version of themselves, to get out the word about this, fundraise and just do everything that they did.”

Bean was the senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at MLB. He worked with the 30 Major League clubs and MLB staff to create an inclusive environment within the sport. The former Major Leaguer was instrumental in the development of MLB’s bullying prevention program, bringing more awareness to MLB’s mental wellness programs, and the nine ERGs -- about half participated through fundraising, promoting or walking.

“What mattered to Billy was that people felt included,” said Linda Przygodski, senior director of enterprise digital initiatives and ERG board member. “Having that kind of attitude -- that everyone’s equal, everyone’s in it together -- was something that was very important to him.”

Before the walk, an opening ceremony was held where participants shared their stories of how leukemia and lymphoma affected their lives. Each person also received a lantern: white for survivors, gold for those walking in memory of a loved one, and red for supporters.

Listening to those sharing their stories before the walk was a moment that stuck out to many. It also opened up a conversation for those who had other connections to the disease. One was senior business intelligence engineer and MLB Women ERG co-chair Erin Kessler, whose brother was diagnosed a few years ago but is now in full remission.

“Everyone can be at such a different stage of the process,” Kessler shared. "... I think it’s a good reminder that this impacts everybody in so many different ways, their families, their friends, their communities, and the result is drastically different for each person. But it was cool for one night to be able to just uplift each other, support each other and understand that while everyone’s story is different, you can relate to what everyone is going through. I think it was a cool way to honor Billy, but also for me personally, to honor my family and the journey we had with blood cancer years ago.”

“It really became this awesome way for us to celebrate and remember our colleague, but also to create a safe space in the community and opportunities to share within our own office among those who also have loved ones who were impacted,” said Isabel Caro, manager of MLB’s mental health and safety programs and MLB Women ERG co-chair.

Bean’s legacy of inclusion and equity through the ERGs and other programs will continue to impact baseball by helping people feel welcome and creating a space for everyone who loves the sport.

“Hopefully we made him proud,” said manager of diversity, equity and inclusion Maverick Palabasan, who also worked closely with Bean. “Just by coming together, because his message was really coming together in the face of adversity and being really resilient. So hopefully by coming together in honor of him, we made him proud and hopefully continue his legacy.”