Women in baseball vs technology by Chung Wong • Findery

This may seem strange, but i have often wondered which industry is more progressive promoting women: technology or men’s baseball.

The answer may surprise you.

At the Los Angeles Dodgers, in 2003, 21% of front-office executives, 44% of the managers, 56% of supervisors and 21% of directors were women. That is significantly higher than tech industry averages for women in senior roles.

And that was not even #1 in the league. The Cleveland Indians had the most female directors and managers in the MLB with 40%+ of its front office being female and 45% of its fan base being women.

http://www.forbes.com/2003/04/25/cz_cf_0425baseball.html

I have mapped biographies of the most notable people in both industries and these two industries are actually comparable when it comes to progress for women. Given one is a male product, and the other is suppose to be about equality, that is obviously a sad statement about internet ownership and management for a field originated in the modern era to aspire to equality and democratization. Internet traffic is mostly driven by women yet the internet is mostly owned (likely more than 90%), funded and managed by men.

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Today is the birthday of the 1st woman to ever play pro baseball. Toni Stone is seen at Candlestick Park (SF) throwing the first pitch in 1965.

Toni Stone (July 17, 1921 – Nov 2, 1996) joined the San Francisco Seals in 1949, hitting 2 RBIs in her debut at-bat in the Negro League in 1949.

She left when she was not paid as promised joining the New Orleans Black Pelicans and then the Creoles (1949–1952).

In 1953, she took over future career home run record-setter Hank Aaron’s spot at 2B with the Indianapolis Clowns. She then joined the Kansas City Monarchs and retired in 1954 after her playing time was reduced.

One of her hits came against the legendary Satchel Paige. Men, for the most part, gave her a hard time. She would show scars on her wrist from getting spiked at 2B (he was out). She was not allowed in the player locker room (which is essential for team communication) and used the umpire room instead, isolated.

After she retired, she moved to Oakland to look after her ailing husband and nursed him to 103 years old when he died in 1987.

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Former New York Yankees Kim Ng is one of my biggest baseball heroes. She was AGM 1998-2001 helping Brian Cashman execute deals for one of the greatest teams in baseball history, winning several World Series. She then became AGM for the Los Angeles Dodgers, in another major market. She has been shortlisted for GM positions many times but later joined Joe Torre at the MLB as ” Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations” in 2011. Another woman Jean Afterman replaced her with the New York Yankees.

Helene Hathaway Britton was the first woman to own a team with the St. Louis Cardinals 1911-1916 (that is before women had the right to vote). The controversial Marge Schott owned the Cincinnati Reds 1984 to 1999. And Joan Whitney Payson owned the New York Mets (and New York Giants as a minority shareholder). Payson was against moving the Giants from NYC to SF and started the New York Mets, working as its President 1968–1975. She brought Hall of Famer Willie Mays back to NYC in 1972. New York has a lot to be thankful for, thanks to women in baseball.

Margaret Donahue was an executive with the Chicago Cubs 1919 to 1958 and invented the idea of season tickets and lower prices for children under 12. Season tickets are practically the lifeline of sports sales today.

Of late, there have been numerous women hired as baseball coaches by the MLB and there are also several women in high profile roles in broadcast, including Suzyn Waldman who has done color commentary for the New York Yankees since 2005. In 1989, NBC’s Gayle Gardner was the first woman to regularly host MLB games.

The first woman to umpire a professional game was Bernice Gera in June, 1972.

Mo’ne Davis recently made a big splash pitching in the Little League World Series. In 2008 Eri Yoshida, 16, became Japan’s 1st female pro. And there is a female MLB recruit in France actively training.

This is just a partial glimpse into women in pro baseball.

Put side by side, men’s baseball can compete fairly well when compared to technology in the progress of women. That is obviously disconcerting as technology controls how society behaves and has a long way to go to reflect equality in the higher ranks who drive society today through social media habits.

I think about this all the time when defining a legacy for my daughter.