A glass ceiling is broken in sports

[samhexum]

The Marlins have made a groundbreaking hire, as the team announced that Kim Ng will be the team’s new general manager. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) was the first to report the news that Ng will join the Marlins, making her the first Asian-American GM in Major League Baseball history and the first woman to ever act as a GM for a men’s team in any of the major North American sports.

 

Today’s news is the culmination of a baseball career that began almost 30 years ago, when Ng was hired as an intern in the White Sox front office. Like many other Marlins hires, Ng has a connection to Derek Jeter, as she worked as an assistant GM with the Yankees from 1998-2001. Ng then moved on to an assistant GM job with the Dodgers until 2011, and she has since worked for Major League Baseball as the league’s senior vice president for baseball operations.

 

Ng’s name has long been floated in past GM searches, as she was previously a candidate for openings with the Orioles, Giants and Mets as recently as 2018, as well as past vacancies with the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Angels, Mariners, and Padres. These interviews created some anticipation that Ng would eventually be the first woman put in charge of an MLB front office, though after all the years and all the close calls, it was the Marlins who made the breakthrough decision.

 

The 51-year-old Ng will now oversee a promising young team that is coming off both its first playoff berth since 2003 and its first winning season since 2010. While the Marlins’ 31-29 record in a shortened season isn’t quite yet indicative that Miami has wholly turned the corner after another rebuild, Jeter and owner Bruce Sherman appear to have gotten the franchise on the right track since taking over in 2017.

[samhexum]

Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller becomes first woman to play in the Power Five

 

Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller made history on Saturday afternoon by becoming the first woman to appear in a Power Five college football game.

 

Fuller normally serves as a goalkeeper on Vanderbilt’s women’s soccer team, which she led to the Southeastern Conference title last weekend. She was added to the Commodores’ roster after the team’s other kickers were forced into COVID-19 quarantine, rendering them unavailable for Saturday’s matinee at Missouri. The Power Five is comprised of the biggest conferences in college sports: the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12.

 

Fuller, a senior, made coach Derek Mason’s roster following a successful tryout earlier this week. “She’s got a strong leg,” Mason said. “We'll figure out what that looks like on Saturday.”

 

The moment came at the beginning of the second half when Fuller, wearing a “Play Like A Girl” sticker on the back of her helmet, kicked off. She didn’t have an opportunity in the first half, as the Tigers dominated the visitors and ran out to a 21-0 lead.

 

It was the only action she saw in her team’s eventual 41-0 loss, one that dropped Vanderbilt to 0-8 on the seasons. Nonetheless, Fuller became just the third woman to play at the top level of college football, after fellow kickers Katie Hnida and April Gross.

 

“Honestly, I was just really calm — the SEC [Championship] was more stressful,” Fuller, in a post-game interview with the SEC Network, said afterward. “I just want to tell all the girls out there that you can do anything you set your mind to, like you really can. And if you have that mentality all the way through, you can do big things.”

 

It’s not yet clear if Fuller will remain with Mason’s team when Georgia visits on Dec. 5. Oren Milstein, Mason’s first choice kicker in 2019, opted out of the 2020 campaign because of coronavirus concerns. Its other specialists had to isolate after coming into contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19 and might not be cleared in time for next weekend’s contest.

 

Hnida broke the glass ceiling when she took the field for New Mexico in 2003. Gross followed in 2015 with Kent State. Jacksonville State’s Ashley Martin was the first woman to play NCAA football at any level in 2001. None have suited up in the NFL yet, although United States women’s national team great Carli Lloyd impressed during a workout with the Philadelphia Eagles last year, shortly after she helped the USWNT win its second consecutive World Cup. Like Fuller, Gross and Martin played soccer before switching to the gridiron. Vanderbilt folded its men’s soccer program in 2006.

 

Before Saturday’s game, Hnida and Lloyd both voiced their support for the 6-foot-2 Fuller, a native of Wylie, Texas, who is majoring in Medicine, Health and Society at the Nashville school.

[samhexum]

Bucks make Lisa Byington first women's full-time TV play-by-play announcer in major men's pro sports

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The Milwaukee Bucks have named Lisa Byington as the team's new television play-by-play announcer on Bally Sports Wisconsin, making her the first woman to handle full-time TV play-by-play duties for a major men's professional sports team.

Byington replaces longtime Bucks announcer Jim Paschke, who retired following the 2020-21 season after serving as the team's television play-by-play announcer for the previous 35 years. Bucks and Fiserv Forum president Peter Feigin announced Byington's hiring Wednesday.

In a statement, Byington said she was "absolutely thrilled" at the opportunity "to work with a first-class franchise and a championship organization like the Milwaukee Bucks."

"I know that I will be stepping into the role long-held by Jim Paschke, and I appreciate his passion for the team and the memorable moments his voice will always be a part of," Byington said. "I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge his work and commitment to the franchise, and it's my honor to be the one who takes the baton from him. I'm particularly excited to work with such an amazing team of Marques Johnson, Zora Stephenson, Steve Novak and everyone involved with Bucks games at Bally Sports Wisconsin."

.@LisaByington becomes the first female full-time TV play-by-play announcer for a major men's professional sports team.

Welcome to Milwaukee, Lisa!! pic.twitter.com/HYZXUqshOa

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) September 15, 2021

Byington, who previously did play-by-play for the Women's World Cup on Fox in 2019, became the first woman to call NCAA men's basketball tournament games in March as part of the CBS/Turner Sports coverage. She subsequently was behind the mic for men's and women's soccer games at the Tokyo Olympics for NBC Sports.

From 2017 to 2019, Byington worked as a sideline reporter for the NCAA men's basketball tournament on CBS and Turner, and she also has experience calling the play-by-play for various NBA and WNBA games, among other assignments.

She became the first women's play-by-play broadcaster for a Big Ten Network college football game in 2017.

Byington has broadcast games for Fox Sports, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS, Turner Sports, Pac-12 Network, ESPN and the SEC Network in both play-by-play and reporter roles. She played basketball and soccer while attending Northwestern University.

"We are so excited to welcome Lisa to the Bucks family and to bring such a talented play-by-play announcer to our broadcast team," Feigin said in a statement. "Lisa's extensive television broadcasting background, including her play-by-play work for high-level NCAA basketball on several national networks, makes her the perfect choice to take on this major role. While we appreciate the significance of selecting Lisa, and we celebrate this historic moment, Lisa earned this position based on her extraordinary skills and experience. We look forward to Lisa becoming the voice of the Bucks."

[samhexum]

The Yankees have made a groundbreaking hire in their minor league ranks, as The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler (Twitter link) reports that Rachel Balkovec will manage the organization’s lower-A team in Tampa next season.  Balkovec will become the first woman to ever manage an affiliated minor league club.

This is the latest of several barriers broken over the course of Balkovec’s decade-long career in baseball.  Beginning as a strength and conditioning coordinator in the Cardinals’ farm system from 2011-15, she then moved to a similar role with the Astros from 2016-18, working with both Houston’s Latin American prospects and then the Astros’ Double-A affiliate.  She has spent the last two seasons working within the Yankees’ minor league system as a hitting coach, following some time spent working with Driveline and in the Netherlands working with the Dutch national teams.

Along the way, Balkovec has routinely been noted as the first woman to be hired in these positions, whether in her strength/conditioning jobs or as a hitting coach.  The 34-year-old will now take yet another step forward managing some of the Yankees’ top young prospects, and Balkovec is undoubtedly already familiar with many of these players due to her coaching work.

As Balkovec told The Associated Press’ Ronald Blum in 2019, “I have aspirations of being in a more leadership role from a broader standpoint,” mentioning the possibility of one day being hired as a “director of baseball operations or farm director or GM.”  Such goals aren’t as remote as they once seemed for women in baseball, considering that Kim Ng is the Marlins general manager, Eve Rosenbaum is the Orioles’ director of baseball development, and Sara Goodrum was recently hired as the Astros’ director of player development.  As for on-field personnel, Alyssa Nakken is a member of the Giants coaching staff, while Bianca Smith (Red Sox) and Rachel Folden (Cubs) have worked coaching jobs in the minor leagues for their respective teams.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/01/yankees-name-rachel-balkovec-as-manager-of-lower-a-affiliate.html

[samhexum]

On 1/10/2022 at 2:29 AM, samhexum said:

The Yankees have made a groundbreaking hire in their minor league ranks, as The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler (Twitter link) reports that Rachel Balkovec will manage the organization’s lower-A team in Tampa next season.  Balkovec will become the first woman to ever manage an affiliated minor league club.

Rachel Balkovec, hired by the New York Yankees as the first woman to manage a minor league affiliate of a Major League Baseball team, was hit in the face by a batted ball during a drill and will be sidelined for up to a week.

Balkovec was struck Tuesday. She will not be available for her first scheduled spring training game Thursday with Class A Tampa.

The 34-year-old Balkovec didn't sustain a concussion but has facial swelling, the Yankees said Wednesday. She was involved in a hitting drill in an indoor cage at the minor league complex when she was hurt.

Balkovec has been instructed by team doctors to rest for the next five to seven days. She will be re-examined after the swelling goes down.

"All things considered, I feel very fortunate," Balkovec said in a statement. "The doctors have asked me to be smart about limiting my activities over the next several days, and I plan on following their guidance. As much as I already miss being around the players and staff, I do not anticipate this affecting my role and responsibilities for the regular season."

Balkovec is scheduled to manage her first regular-season game on April 8 at Lakeland.

Balkovec has broken several barriers on her way to the position. She was the first woman to serve as a full-time minor league strength and conditioning coach, then the first to be a full-time hitting coach in the minors with the Yankees.

The Yankees announced her hiring as a minor league manager in January.

"The players that I've worked with, whether they like me, they don't like me, they like what I'm saying, they don't like what I'm saying, I do feel like they respect me," she said during her introduction following the hire.

[samhexum]

Marilyn Loden, who coined the phrase 'glass ceiling,' dies at 76

[samhexum]

Caroline O'Connor didn't know what her ceiling was when she entered the sports business world, simply because there were so few examples of women who traveled her path.

Turns out, she had no limit.

The Miami Marlins promoted O'Connor to president of business operations on Monday, making them the first U.S. major sports franchise to have women serving simultaneously as president and general manager. The Marlins made history by hiring Kim Ng as GM in November 2020; two years later, they've made another significant move.

"When I talk to young girls, I really like them to see me in my role because I didn't feel like I had that role model," O'Connor said. "And I want people to see themselves when they see me and know that it is a possibility."

Edited November 14, 2022 by samhexum
just for the hell of it

[samhexum]

New York routs Toronto 4-0 in inaugural PWHL game; Ella Shelton scores league’s first goal

New York dominated in the inaugural game of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL),

defeating Toronto 4-0 on Monday at Mattamy Athletic Centre.

[viewing ownly]

On 1/1/2024 at 1:00 PM, samhexum said:

New York routs Toronto 4-0 in inaugural PWHL game; Ella Shelton scores league’s first goal

New York dominated in the inaugural game of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL),

defeating Toronto 4-0 on Monday at Mattamy Athletic Centre.

I'd never heard of this league until tonight. I wish them luck. Clearly their PR person has LOTS of work to do!

[samhexum]

On 1/3/2024 at 12:38 AM, viewing ownly said:

I'd never heard of this league until tonight. I wish them luck. Clearly their PR person has LOTS of work to do!

Women's league proves it has chance at  success

In Toronto on Friday, 19,285 fans set all-time attendance record for women’s hockey.