The women are coming for baseball

It's too early to call it a new era, but with names like Rachel Balkovec and Genevieve Beacom making the headlines, America's pastime is definitely due for a change-up. Balkovec was hired as the new manager of the Yankees minor league team, the Tampa Tarpons. This hire made history as it was the first woman to ever hold a manager position in either major or minor league baseball.

The last two years have been spent as a hitting coach with the Yankees. She was promoted to this new role because of her talents and qualifications, which the Yankees higher-ups have praised. Her achievements in the sport should not be erased by discussions of her gender. This is a landmark moment for women in baseball, for someone who started out her career changing her name to become gender neutral so that she could get interviews in a sport that had all but shut out women.

The first woman to play professionally in the Australian Baseball League is 17-year-old Beacom. The age of the high school student who stands at 6-foot-2 is more notable than her gender. She is making history as she expresses her hopes to play college ball in the United States despite an advisor telling her that there is no baseball or softball scholarships for girls. The first ever female catcher in the NCAA was in 2020 and a few other women are playing baseball at the collegiate level.

There is no equivalent to baseball for women in the way that there is for basketball, golf, tennis, or soccer. If a girl wants to play baseball, they have to deal with being part of the boys club, because they are often pushed toward softball teams. As many teams lean toward hiring those with in-game experience, this pushes them out of coaching and training job opportunities. Although there have been managers of major league teams who never played ball, it is not common, and is even less common to hire women who likely never had a chance to play.

Balkovec is one of ten women in on-field roles throughout major and minor league baseball this year. This is a chance for young girls to see that coaching or playing a sport that they love is a real possibility for their futures, because there is a shift that is allowing these opportunities for women to open up, and not to get too cliche about it.