AFL senior administrator McGrath to be honored

Joan McGrath, the Arizona Fall League's senior administrator, will be named the Rawlings Woman Executive of the Year at next month's Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, McGrath, one of the AFL's five original staffers, said she was "honored to be nominated and overwhelmed to win."

"It has been a joy to help young people chase and attain their dreams," McGrath said in the release. "I'm gratified to have played a role in the expanding opportunities for women in baseball."

McGrath is the only remaining staff member of the AFL's original five, boasting 22 seasons of service time to the league. In 2005, McGrath became the only woman to take home the Roland Hemond Meritorious Service Award, given annually to baseball executives that have served the AFL.

McGrath will retire in December, leaving behind a legacy filled with accomplishments and highlighted by her role in kick-starting the AFL in 1992.

"During her more than two decades of dedicated service to the game of baseball, Joan has demonstrated all of the characteristics that the Rawlings Woman Executive of the Year Award represents," Pat O'Conner, president and CEO of Minor League Baseball, said in the statement. "From fostering the growth of young baseball executives early in their careers to ensuring the overall success of the Arizona Fall League, her commitment to the many facets of the game are both worthy of recognition and respect."

The presentation of the award will take place on Monday, Dec. 9, at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Fla.