By Al Wes

It is 2024 and there are an alarming number of women breaking into the very manly realm of baseball. It was bad enough when women decided they wanted to be megafans of their teams, but working in MLB? Who would want that to happen?

The offseason was a slow one for the players, so the women decided to take advantage. On February 12, it was reported Jen Pawol would be behind the plate for MLB Spring Training games. She is the first female to umpire on the major league level since 2007. We went 17 years without trusting women to make the right calls on the field and now after eight seasons in the minor leagues, Jen thinks she has earned a chance.

Many men have raised proper concerns, like “Will her mood affect her play calling?” and “If she thinks a player is attractive will her calls be more favorable?” As a woman, I do not feel qualified to defend these questions. MiLB does not seem to share these concerns as Jen is actually one of nine women who are slated to work on-field this season. Considering only about 10% of MiLB players make it to the big leagues, Jen and her other umpire lady friends should probably stop while they are ahead.

Someone who didn’t stop while they were ahead? Jenny Cavnar. Just one day after the Jen Pawol announcement, the Oakland Athletics decided it was a good idea to let a female be the lead play-by-play voice.

Why am I concerned about this new hire? Jenny has never played a day of baseball, let alone a day of MLB. How could she possibly properly call a game with her lack of real life experience? Being the backup play-by-play announcer for the Rockies just wasn’t enough and after 18 seasons in Major League broadcasting she had to take away an opportunity from another washed up MLB veteran. How are they supposed to relive their haydays now?

On the bright side, the A’s apparently have no fans in Oakland so no one will be watching when she gets too emotional on air and cries after every loss. 

While Jenny Cavnar is the first to take the main spot in the broadcast booth, I’d be remise not to mention Melanie Newman, a member of the Orioles broadcast team. Melanie has such a big fan base from men, I wonder if she let Jenny know about the joys that were ahead for her. Just look at how Drew cheers on Melanie.

Men all around Baltimore remember July 20, 2021 very well. It was the very first baseball game, specifically Orioles game, that had an all female broadcast team. This had to be a ploy of Melanie since she joined the team in 2020. How she convinced the team this was a good idea, no one knows. Legend says it ruined the experience of watching a baseball game and contributed directly to the Orioles 3-9 loss that day against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Speaking of Florida, apparently going to the playoffs and losing in the first round is enough for one woman in MLB. The story of Kim Ng is old news. She became the first female General Manager of a North American men’s sports team in history when she was hired by the Marlins in November of 2020.

Navigating sports in the middle of a pandemic seems like the perfect time to hire a woman. Nobody cared about the product on the field; they were just happy to see sports being played, so who cared if a female is sailing the ship? Kim left the Marlins during this offseason because she thought she wasn’t being paid enough. The audacity of women to think they deserve adequate compensation after men have allowed them the privilege to work in their space. Serves her right that Spring Training has started and she is still unemployed. 

Researching how many females work in MLB has lead me to ask only one question. How many more women will we let encroach on the sacred space of men? How hard will we let them work to break barriers? When will it be enough? To that I say, it will never be enough.