UZYN WALDMAN, the
Yankees’ broadcaster,
cried when she heard
the news. Mariana Patraca, a
Latin America operations assistant
with the Diamondbacks, sat in
her car, scrolling through Twitter.
Andrea Nuñez, a strength and
conditioning coach in the Angels’
organization, summoned all her
self-control to keep from jumping
up and down at Disney World.
Eventually they—and other
women around baseball—found time
to pause and consider the moment:
Kim Ng had just been named the
Marlins’ general manager, making
her the first woman in major
American men’s professional sports
to hold that front-office position.
The Women in Baseball
WhatsApp group almost melted its
80 members’ phones. “It’s huge for
all of us,” says Patraca. “For the onesSCORECARD
22 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | SI.COM
who are dreaming, for the ones who
are working in baseball and for the
little ones who want to get there.”
According to the Institute for
Diversity and Ethics in Sport’s 2020
report card, women made up just
20% of MLB team vice presidents
this year, and there were 21 women
in on-field coaching or player
development positions (up from
three in ’17). The pipeline for women
is narrow, because most girls do not
play baseball. And even if they do
make it to professional baseball in
some capacity, they face challenges
both common in other industries
(assertive comes off as bossy) and not
(some clubs have no women’s locker
room facilities), all while navigating
an institutional culture that often
prioritizes the way things have
always been done.
The group text began last
summer as a reaction to this reality.
It functions as a combination of
networking opportunity, discussion
board and cheerleading squad. Its
members were so excited aboutS
GAMEPLAN P. 28 EDGE P. 30 FULL FRAME P. 33 FACES IN THE CROWD P. 44JO
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S^ (^2)WHEN THE MARLINS HIRED KIM NG TO BE
THE FIRST FEMALE GENERAL MANAGER IN
MAJOR LEAGUE HISTORY, IT MADE A PROFOUND
IMPACT ON WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE GAME‘I FEEL LIKE
IT’S ME’
BY STEPHANIE APSTEIN