A’s Hire First Female Coach In Major League Baseball History

“Siegal will work with players October. 4-17 at the Lew Wolff Training Complex in Mesa, Ariz.”(MLB) Siegal’s hiring makes her the first female major league coach.

Professional men’s baseball did not have any female coaches at all until 2009, when Siegal became a coach for the Brockton Rox, an independent minor-league team.

In spring of 2011, Siegal threw batting practice for six major league teams: the A’s, Indians, Rays, Cardinals, Astros and Mets.

More recently, Siegal has spent her time working with Baseball For All, a non-profit organization that she founded to give young women the opportunity to play baseball.

Justine Siegal has already made a lot of history, and she’s making it again – this time with the Oakland Athletics.

The Sacramento Kings hired Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman as an assistant coach under coach George Karl. Throwing batting practice, hitting fungos, a little bit of a classroom time….

Breaking down gender barriers in baseball is something Justine Siegal has done her entire life. “She sees baseball as singular door able to open a girl’s mind to a multitude of possibilities”. She holds a Ph.D.in sport and exercise psychology from Springfield College and an M.A. from Kent State University in sport studies. She now joins Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs and Jen Welter of the Arizona Cardinals as female coaches in major men’s sports leagues.

Siegal seems to have a great attitude and says she is willing to do anything the team wants, including carrying water. “Justine knows that nothing has been promised, but we’re not ruling that out”, Forst said.

“There is a chance that the opportunity could turn into a full-time coaching job with the organization at a few point”, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The A’s became one of the first teams to employ a woman in a coaching capacity when they appointed Kate Greenthal as a scouting assistant in 2012. She led their summer league team to a championship in July, summoning talk that she’s ready to be a head coach in the National Basketball Association.