Oakland A's Hire First Female Coach in MLB History
By Rob Perez
The year(s) 2014/2015 will be known for a lot of memorable moments, however, one thing that particularly stands out is women’s integration into predominantly “men only” sports.
You’ve got Becky Hammon who is now an assistant coach in the NBA for the San Antonio Spurs (and a damn good one for that matter: she led San Antonio’s Las Vegas summer league team to the championship this year.)
Jen Welter, who the Arizona Cardinals recently hired as a training camp intern coach…
and of course: Nancy Lieberman — who is now an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings.
One sport you don’t see mentioned above is MLB, however, that all changed today — when Justine Siegal was officially introduced as not only the new Oakland Athletics guest instructor for their Instructional League Club, she became the first female coach in professional baseball history.
ICYMI: A's invite @justinebaseball to serve as guest instructor at Instructional League. http://t.co/eITDdMSHvD pic.twitter.com/qnGKQZV727
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) September 29, 2015
Siegal told Susan Slussler of The San Francisco Chronicle…
“It’s a dream come true … The A’s are a first-class organization and it will be an honor to wear their uniform … As a rookie coach, I expect to hit a lot of fungoes, throw a lot of batting practice and help out wherever they want me to help … And I do like talking about life skills; I like to help people achieve their life goals.”
In response, A’s Assistant General Manager David Forst told Susan in the same article:
We feel like Justine has a lot to offer and that (the Instructional League) is a great place to get her feet wet … She’ll be doing a little bit of everything.
In re: to Siegal ever having a chance of becoming a major league coach, Frost continued…
Justine knows that nothing has been promised, but we’re not ruling that out.
It appears the Athletics plan on utilizing Siegal’s PhD in sport and exercise psychology, as Forst says Justine’s responsibilities will not only include on-the-field activities, but, also giving presentations to the organization’s players on the “mental side of the game”.
Congratulations to Justine and the Oakland Athletics franchise!