Women In Baseball Making Big Moves ⚾
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Season 2: Episode 105 Description
In today's episode: ⚾ We're celebrating women in baseball! 🧢 Women are making big gains on the baseball field and behind the scenes so Correspondent and Sports Journalist Nathalie Alonso is here to share Baseball’s Women to watch! 👍 We know all about stealing bases, but have you heard about stealing signs? 🤣 Ten'er Tidbit: Ten News listener Nathaniel sent in some great jokes. And, test your baseball history knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
MLB to allow anti-sign-stealing technology during 2022 season - Sports Illustrated
10 Fun Facts About The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League | WBEZ Chicago
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:00
Ryan, is this a good idea? You know, Tracy doesn't like you throwing baseballs in the studio.
Ryan Willard 0:06
Bethany, be cool. I saw this in the movie. It's gonna work. Hey, Tessa, come in here.
Tessa Flannery 0:12
What's up, Ryan? Hey!
Ryan Willard 0:17
See? Tessa caught it barehanded.
Bethany Van Delft 0:20
Tessa. That was awesome.
Tessa Flannery 0:23
Thanks, Bethany. Not cool, Ryan. I'm telling Tracy you're throwing things again.
Ryan Willard 0:27
What? No, but you caught it and I didn't break the microwave this time.
Bethany Van Delft 0:31
Baseball is known as America's pastime. And newsflash. It's not just for boys. Today we're celebrating women in baseball. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Tuesday, April 26th. And this is the Ten News.
Various Voices 0:48
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:56
Women are making big gains on the baseball field and behind the scenes. Here's Ten News correspondent and sports journalist Nathalie Alonso with baseball's Women to Watch.
Nathalie Alonso 1:08
A new baseball season is underway. And as a girl who covers baseball for a living, this is a really exciting time in the sport. That's because, in the last few years, we've seen more and more women get hired for jobs in professional baseball that until recently, were reserved only for men. Take Kim Ang for example. In November 2020, she was named General Manager of the Miami Marlins after years of being passed over by other teams, it's about time. ng is currently the highest-ranking female executive in all of baseball. She's also the first woman to hold the title of a general manager not just in baseball, but in any of the four major North American Sports, which also include the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL. As a general manager, Ang's job is to build a team by signing players as free agents, trading for players, and drafting amateurs. We're seeing more women not just in baseball front offices, but also on the field. Earlier this month, Alyssa Nacken of the San Francisco Giants became the first woman ever to serve as a field coach during a game. Nacken was also the first woman ever to be hired as a major league baseball coach. A year after NAC and joined the Giants, Bianca Smith was hired as a minor league coach by the Boston Red Sox, becoming the first black woman in the history of professional baseball to serve as a coach. And this season, Rachel Balkovec of the Tampa Tarpons a team in the New York Yankees farm system is making history as the first woman to manage a minor league baseball team. Women are working with players and other roles, too. Andrea Nunez of the San Francisco Giants is the first Latina strength and conditioning coach in MLB history. We're also seeing more women and the press box and the broadcast booth. Of course, women and girls have always been part of baseball. But seeing so many women break barriers in the sport in such a short time is a reminder that girls really can't do anything.
Bethany Van Delft 3:23
Thank you, Nathalie. Wow, those women are such an inspiration. They really are in a league of their own. You know how pitchers and catchers make those fingers symbol for each other during the baseball game. The catcher will make a sign to the pitcher about what kind of pitch to throw to each batter. Wow. It's a super cool way of communicating. Unfortunately, a couple of teams found ways to steal the signs seriously. Back in 2017, the Houston Astros kicked off an MLB scandal by playing the video from the centerfield camera on a TV in the dugout. Then the players banged on a trash can to let the batter know what kind of pitch was coming. This gives the batter the upper hand. When you know what's coming, you can adjust your stance or your grip to get the best possible hit. That's unbelievable.
Ryan Willard 4:21
I'm a Yankees fan and I'm still mad about that. It's cheating.
Bethany Van Delft 4:24
Right, Ryan? And it wasn't just the Astros. The same year Red Sox players also found ways to sign steel. So the MLB investigated and handed out suspensions and warnings to all the teams involved. Now we're talking ever since then, baseball teams have been looking for tools to prevent sign stealing. And in the 2022 season, the MLB is officially allowing new technology that replaces hand signs. A device called Pitch calm allows the catcher to press a button on their gloved hands and the pitcher’s earpiece tells them which pitch to throw Then the Yankees have already tried out pitch calm. Pitcher Luis Severino and catcher Kyle Higashioka seem to like it. Of course, the MLB isn't forcing teams to switch from flashing fingers to using an audio device like pitch calm, so plenty of teams will still use finger signs this season. Keep your eye on the pitcher and catcher to see how they're communicating. Just don't tell the batter. Europe hates us up. Got any tidbits for us?
Tessa Flannery 5:31
I've got something even better today. One of our, Ten'ers, a 12-year-old named Nathaniel went to thetennews.com and sent us a couple of jokes. Are you ready? You know it! Why did the dinosaurs cross the road? Why? Because the meteor was coming. And this one, a person walks into a restaurant and there is a line waiting to punch him. Yeah? That's the punch line.
Bethany Van Delft 6:06
Those are awesome. Thanks for sending those in Nathaniel, and, Ter'ers, if you have a joke, a tidbit or a fun fact visit thetennews.com and send it to us. We might put it on the show. Excellent. And now, here to give us the news rundown is our head writer Ryan Willard.
Ryan Willard 6:31
What's up, Ten'ers, Ryan Willard here. Here's an update on Ukraine. US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv last week and during their meeting with President Zelensky, they told him that the US will continue to aid and support Ukraine including over $300 million in foreign military aid. Blinken said that President Biden will nominate Bridget Brink as the first US Ambassador to Ukraine since 2019. US diplomats will also begin returning to Ukraine as soon as this week. Okay. Earth's oldest living person has passed away Tanaka of Japan was 119 years old when she passed away on April 19, 2022. She was the second oldest person ever recorded behind Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122. Tanaka not only beat cancer twice, but she survived two world wars and two pandemics. Her family said she kept her mind and body engaged by doing math and remaining curious. Guinness World Records is currently investigating who the next oldest person living now is. The Minecraft movie is happening and it might be starring Aquaman According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jason Momoa, the star of Aquaman and Dune is in final negotiations to play the lead in the Minecraft film, Jared Hess will direct the much-anticipated movie. We do not know if Mimosa would be playing Steve or even when the movie will come out. So I'll continue to play Minecraft until we have more details. Back to you, Bethany.
Bethany Van Delft 8:10
Lucky you, it's...
Various Voices 8:12
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 8:15
Trivia on the Ten. Okay Ten'ers, here's a women's baseball history question for you. In the All American Girls professional baseball league, which started in 1943. What kind of extra training did women players have to do in order to play baseball? Was it a) speed training b) batting practice or c) charm school? Did you guess it? The answer is c) charm school. In the All American Girls, professional baseball league players had to take beauty school classes. Are you kidding me? That's bananas, right? In addition to training for the games, women in the league went to charm school and learned makeup tips. Ah, obviously the men of Major League Baseball didn't have to do that. I mean, do you think Babe Ruth would have hit more home runs if he had gone to charm school? Hmm, probably not. Well, so glad so much has changed since then, and continues to change. Well, that takes us to the bottom of the ninth. Do you want to be on an upcoming episode? Teacher Appreciation Day is coming up and we want to know who your favorite teacher is and why. If you go to thetennews.com and tell us we might have you on the show. Before we go. Here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRaido. The Ten News creative team is learning how to flash finger signs and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Adam Barnard, and Tessa Flannery. Nathalie Alonso contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft and thanks for listening to the Ten News.
