Visible women in baseball

[savafan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2433627

Kelly Calabrese was recently catapulted into the national spotlight by accident via Keith Hernandez's on-air remarks, and Renel Brooks-Moon is well-known in the Bay Area as the stadium voice for the San Francisco Giants.

But there are several other women playing key roles with major league teams. According to the 2005 Racial Gender Report Card for Major League Baseball, two women were in CEO/president roles, and 31 women held vice-president positions with major league teams.

In a year when the first woman (Effa Manley) will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, here are five other women with visible roles in Major League Baseball:

Jean Afterman

Afterman, the Yankees' vice president and assistant general manager, succeeded Kim Ng in 2001 to become only the third woman to hold such a role in Major League Baseball. Afterman was instrumental in signing Hideki Matsui and continues to be an integral part of the Yankees' presence in Asia.

Pam Gardner

Gardner, the Astros' president of business operations, is one of only two women to hold a CEO/president role in baseball. Now in her 18th season with the Astros, Gardner oversees revenue areas, customer service, sponsorship and ticket sales, as well as community and marketing outreach programs.

Jamie McCourt

As the Dodgers' vice chairman and president, McCourt is the highest-ranking female executive in Major League Baseball. The wife of owner and chairman Frank McCourt, who bought the Dodgers on Jan. 29, 2004, Jamie oversees strategic planning and development for the franchise.

Kim Ng

Ng is now in her fifth season as the Dodgers' vice president and assistant general manager, one of only two women to hold such a position in baseball (Jean Afterman is the other). Ng became the first woman in major league history to interview for a GM position when she was a candidate for the Dodgers' job, which went to Ned Colletti.

Suzyn Waldman

Waldman joined John Sterling in the radio booth as the Yankees' color commentator in 2005 to become the first woman to hold a full-time position as a major league broadcaster. Waldman was also the first woman to work on a nationally televised baseball broadcast and the first to provide play-by-play coverage for a MLB team.

[GAC]

Woman love and enjoy the game of baseball, and sports in general.

I've got three kids (2 boys and one girl). My daughter is the only pure athlete in the whole family, and I highly encourage her.

The only place I don't like to see woman is in the locker room for interviews and such. Are men allowed in women's locker rooms? Then the perpetual question would be "Which one's the mike?"

[OnBaseMachine]

Nothing sexier than a woman who loves baseball. Some of the hottest women I have ever seen have been at Reds games. I was lucky enough to sit in the bleachers last year behind a hottie whose thong was showing. Let's just say I had a hard time staying focused on the game.

[RedFanAlways1966]

My how times have changed for those old enough to remember. Twenty-five years ago it was pretty much this...

"Morganna the Kissing Bandit," an Ohio woman who spent more than two decades running onto big-league fields and kissing unsuspecting ballplayers, including George Brett during the 1979 All-Star Game in the Kingdome, is retired and turning down all interview requests these days.

"I just got sick of talking about myself and always being the center of attention. I loved it for the period of time I did it, don't get me wrong.

Doubling as an exotic dancer when she wasn't being an outlandish baseball fan, Morganna offered no regrets over her kissing exploits, which took her to nearly every big-league ballpark.

"I had a great time," she said. "All the fans were wonderful. All the players were wonderful. The road was wonderful. But I had just had enough."

She lives with her husband, Bill Cottrell, and three dogs in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio.

* Her first escapade onto the field--at the age of 17--was to kiss Pete Rose in 1971 at Riverfront Stadium and was a dare from her friend. In an interview, she reported that when she bussed Pete, all he could say was, "You crazy *****n' broad!" He called her the next day to apologize for his language. Regarding Rose, she said, "I tell people my career started with a bet, and Pete's ended with one."

* One of her early conquests was Frank Howard. When she reached up to smooch the 6 foot 7 inch slugger, her miniskirt rode up, resulting in significant "southern exposure".

* At the first attempted night game by the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, on August 8, 1988, she attempted to kiss Ryne Sandberg, but Chicago's finest nailed her first. Nonetheless, Sandberg knocked the next pitch out of the park, to thunderous applause. Unfortunately, the game, like her sprint, ended up a washout.

[vaticanplum]

Woman love and enjoy the game of baseball, and sports in general.

No doubt, but they're still pathetically under-represented in the professional/management arena, which I think is the point of this article.

It's odd, because I for one think of baseball as the sport with the least amount of "machismo" attached, and yet women are still rarer there than almost any other sport as far as I can tell.

It was a big deal when Suzyn Waldman came to the radio in New York (the first female announcer, for the love of God), and she did a great job in my opinion. I really like the way she plays off Sterling. The article doesn't mention it, but she's a former stage actress and I think that serves her well as a broadcaster. She's smart as flip too.

[IslandRed]

My wife loves baseball. Braves fan, unfortunately, but one of the real ones, not the early-90s bandwagon jumpers. When I started dating her I found out she had a Milwaukee Braves throwback cap and watched SportsCenter whether or not I was in the room.

[Dunner44]

Nothing sexier than a woman who loves baseball. Some of the hottest women I have ever seen have been at Reds games. I was lucky enough to sit in the bleachers last year behind a hottie whose thong was showing. Let's just say I had a hard time staying focused on the game.

OBM, have you actually looked at some of the people at the park?



*shudder*

(If that is anyone and their old lady on the board, I appologize )

[Chip R]

No doubt, but they're still pathetically under-represented in the professional/management arena, which I think is the point of this article.

It's odd, because I for one think of baseball as the sport with the least amount of "machismo" attached, and yet women are still rarer there than almost any other sport as far as I can tell.

It was a big deal when Suzyn Waldman came to the radio in New York (the first female announcer, for the love of God), and she did a great job in my opinion. I really like the way she plays off Sterling. The article doesn't mention it, but she's a former stage actress and I think that serves her well as a broadcaster. She's smart as flip too.

MLB commissioned a blue ribbon panel report several years ago. It recommended such things as moving another tem to the NY area and a lot of other stuff. One thing that caught my eye was that it said teams should market their product more towards women for various reasons. It made a lot of sense too.

I had a chance last year to listen to Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling do a Yankees game last year when I was driving up to Columbus one evening. I thought Sterling was very good. I still do not like his Yankees win! Daaaaaa Yankees win! call but I thiught both he and Waldman did a very good job. It was kind of refreshing to hear two announcers talk about the game they were describing.

I do not disagree that women are underrepresented but sports is very much a boys club. I think it is actually very remarkable that there are as many women in the business as there are. They have it much more difficut than any other minorities do because a lot of guys who break into the front office, be it as a broadcaster or a scout or an executive do so because they played the game at the professional level. They get to know people and it becomes, no pun intended, a good old boy network.

[KronoRed]

Good article.

I wonder what team will step up and be the first to hire a woman GM?

[savafan]

Good article.

I wonder what team will step up and be the first to hire a woman GM?

That team in Washington may already have done that.

[Caseyfan21]

Good article.

I wonder what team will step up and be the first to hire a woman GM?

I have a feeling that the first woman GM will probably be Kim Ng from the Dodgers organization. I think we have all heard her name mentioned for openings before, it will just be a matter of what team is willing to step up and be the first.