Cubs Hire Female Coach for Minor Leagues

[Seth Stohs]

More and more women are getting job opportunities in front offices in baseball. But today the Cubs announced that they have hired Rachel Folden as the 4th coach of their Rookie League affiliate.

 

 

From the tweet, she's got an incredible playing and coaching background. 

 

I don't know if she's the first woman to coach in the minor leagues. It's something we can research if anyone wants. But it is a nice step. 

[ashbury]

I don't know if she's the first woman to coach in the minor leagues. It's something we can research if anyone wants. But it is a nice step. 

SABR has a Women In Baseball research committee, so if anyone wants the scoop and a quick search doesn't turn up anything, I can reach out to them. Preferably with an exact question we want to know - "what women have had official coaching positions in the affiliated minor leagues?" for example. Or do we care about independent leagues?

[MN_ExPat]

Well she seems to have the resume and coaching acumen, and at the end of the day, hitting is hitting... I don’t care if it’s baseball or softball (not a whole lot of difference). Good luck, hope she has success.

[ashbury]

I don't know if she's the first woman to coach in the minor leagues. It's something we can research if anyone wants. But it is a nice step. 

My first google hit was Justine Siegal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_Siegal

"Siegal in 2009 became the first female coach of a professional men's baseball team, when she worked for the Brockton Rox, in the independent Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, as the first-base coach."

 

Wikipedia being what it is, I'd want some SABR-like confirmation about being "first" before carrying that too far.

 

But, we also have to carefully specify what we want to know. I seem to recall there have been strength-and-fitness coaches who were female. And not to denigrate that field, but maybe that needs to be thought of separately from more traditional baseball roles, such as the first-base coach job mentioned above. MLB-affiliated, versus independent leagues, versus college, versus whatever? All in all, it seems like a topic that must have been written up. I'll ask.

 

[ashbury]

All in all, it seems like a topic that must have been written up. I'll ask.

I got a reply back from the chair of the SABR Women In Baseball committee. She mentioned the Yankees just hired Rachel Balkovec as minor league hitting coach, and that "there have been a few with different roles", but said she's not aware of such an article giving an overview, and thinks it's a good idea for one. Great, now another thing on my plate.

[biggentleben]

 

My first google hit was Justine Siegal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_Siegal

"Siegal in 2009 became the first female coach of a professional men's baseball team, when she worked for the Brockton Rox, in the independent Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, as the first-base coach."

 

Wikipedia being what it is, I'd want some SABR-like confirmation about being "first" before carrying that too far.

 

But, we also have to carefully specify what we want to know. I seem to recall there have been strength-and-fitness coaches who were female. And not to denigrate that field, but maybe that needs to be thought of separately from more traditional baseball roles, such as the first-base coach job mentioned above. MLB-affiliated, versus independent leagues, versus college, versus whatever? All in all, it seems like a topic that must have been written up. I'll ask.

 

FWIW, that's how Justine is introduced consistently and I believe that's even mentioned on her LinkedIn profile.

[biggentleben]

All I know is the first woman to act as head coach of one of the "big four" pro sports was a South Dakota girl, Becky Hammon, who recently took over as the "official" head coach when Greg Popovich was thrown out of a game. She worked in coordination with other coaches on the bench through the rest of the game, but she is the next in line as far as the responsible party, so to speak, when Pops is no there. Pretty cool moment.

[ashbury]

FWIW, that's how Justine is introduced consistently and I believe that's even mentioned on her LinkedIn profile.

I don't doubt that that's everyone's understanding. It's just that SABR fosters historical research, and sometimes interesting things turn up when you put in effort to validate a claim. It was forgotten for a long time that Jackie Robinson wasn't the first African-American to play MLB, for example. It wouldn't cast Siegal or anyone else in a negative light if it were discovered that some long-forgotten woman coached somewhere in the minors. And that was all I was getting at - ask the right questions, then see where they lead. Meanwhile, good for Siegal, good for Folden, good for Balkovec, for what has to be talent and perseverance.