These women broke barriers in baseball

Kim Ng made history Friday when she was named the Marlins' general manager, becoming the first woman GM in MLB history.

But she's far from the first woman trailblazer in Major League Baseball, or baseball period. Women have been doing amazing things to break barriers in baseball throughout the history of the sport.

Here are just some of the women who broke barriers in baseball.

Kim Ng -- MLB's first woman GM
When Ng was named the Marlins' general manager, she made history as MLB's first female and second Asian-American GM. She is also believed to be the first woman to hold a GM position in any of the professional men's teams in the major North American sports. Ng comes to the Marlins with immense experience in baseball, having worked in front office roles with the White Sox (1990-96), Yankees (1998-2001) and Dodgers (2002-11) -- winning three World Series championships -- before moving on to the Commissioner’s Office, where she had worked since ‘11. When the Yankees hired Ng as an assistant GM at 29, she was the youngest person to hold such a title in MLB.

Alyssa Nakken -- MLB’s first woman Major League coach
The former Sacramento State softball player joined manager Gabe Kapler’s staff in San Francisco in January 2020, becoming the first full-time female coach on a big league team’s staff, with the title of Major League assistant coach. She then continued breaking barriers when she spent some time coaching first base during a Giants exhibition game prior to the start of the season. It marked the first time a woman had served in an on-field capacity during an MLB game. After Opening Day, Nakken donated her No. 92 Giants jersey to the Hall of Fame to commemorate the occasion.

Rachel Balkovec and Rachel Folden -- Hitting coaches for Major League organizations
The Yankees brought in Balkovec in November 2019 as a roving Minor League hitting coach, and it is believed that she became the first woman to hold such a full-time position for a Major League organization. (At about the same time, the Cubs also hired Folden as a lead hitting lab tech and fourth coach for their Rookie-level Arizona League affiliate in Mesa, Ariz.). Balkovec, a former softball player, had previously served as a Minor League strength and conditioning coach for the Cardinals and Astros, earned multiple master’s degrees and worked at the innovative Driveline Baseball training center in Kent, Wash.

Andrea Hayden -- First woman strength and conditioning coach in MLB
When Hayden became an official member of the Twins' coaching staff in November 2019, that made her Major League Baseball's first woman strength and conditioning coach. She was part of a wave of female coaching hires in MLB, including Nakken being hired by the Giants and Balkovec and Folden being hired as Minor League hitting instructors by the Yankees and Cubs, respectively.

Raquel Ferreira -- Becomes highest-ranking woman in baseball operations
Ferreira was part of a four-person group that took over baseball operations for the Red Sox in September 2019 after Dave Dombrowski was dismissed. When she stepped into that role, Ferreira, then a senior VP of Major and Minor League operations with Boston, became the highest-ranking woman in a team's baseball operations department during the regular season. (Ng held a similar position with the Dodgers in the 2005 offseason before a new GM was hired.) Ferreira has now been with the Red Sox for 22 years and was promoted to executive VP and assistant GM in December 2019.

Justine Siegal -- MLB’s first woman coach
When the A’s made Siegal a guest instructor for the team’s Fall 2015 instructional league in Arizona, she already had made history by becoming the first woman to throw batting practice for an MLB team during 2011 Spring Training. In '09, she became the first woman to coach at the professional level, when she manned the first-base coaching box for the independent Brockton Rox. Siegal, who founded a nonprofit organization called "Baseball for All," also served as an assistant coach at Springfield College from 2008-10, before earning her first opportunity with an MLB team.

Kim never gave up! And I bet there were some dark times in that wait. Happy for Kim, the Marlins, and all the girls who see they can dream big. @baseballfor_all https://t.co/kANxlF9rAn

— Justine Siegal PhD (@justinebaseball) November 13, 2020

Jessica Mendoza -- First analyst for nationally televised MLB games
One of the best softball players of all time and a two-time Olympian, Mendoza began working for ESPN in 2007 and served in a variety of television roles there. She began appearing on the network’s Sunday Night Baseball telecasts late in the '15 season and then was named to that broadcast team in '16. Four years later, as part of the ESPN Radio team for the '20 World Series, she became the first woman to serve as an analyst on a national radio broadcast of the Fall Classic.

Mo'Ne Davis -- Little League World Series star
Davis became a baseball sensation for her amazing pitching in the 2014 Little League World Series. Throwing a 70 mph fastball for her Philadelphia team, Davis became the first girl to pitch a shutout in Little League World Series history. She even made the cover of Sports Illustrated, the first Little League baseball player on the cover of the magazine.

Eri Yoshida -- First woman to play professionally in Japan
A knuckleball pitcher, Yoshida played for the Kobe Cruise 9, an independent league team in Japan. She later made the journey to the United States (at only 18 years old) and pitched in 21 more pro games from 2010-12, with the Golden Baseball League’s Chico Outlaws and North American League’s Na Koa Ikaika Maui.

Effa Manley -- First woman inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
In 2006, Manley was inducted into the Hall of Fame -- 60 years after her Newark Eagles won the 1946 Negro World Series. Manley and her husband, Abe, took ownership of the Eagles in '35 and held it until she sold the club in ‘48. Effa, as co-owner, was directly and deeply involved in running and promoting the team. When Major League clubs began signing Black players, Manley fought for Negro Leagues owners to be compensated.

Jean Afterman -- Agent and executive
Afterman took over as the Yankees' assistant GM when Ng left for the Dodgers, making her just the third woman to hold the position in MLB. She jumped from one side of the table to the other, going from working as an agent representing Japanese stars like Hideki Irabu and Hideo Nomo to bringing new ones like Hideki Matsui to the Yankees. Twenty years later, she's still a Yankees executive, one of the most respected in the sport. In 2015, she was appointed to the advisory committee that oversees the Commissioner's Front Office and Field Staff Diversity Pipeline Program. In '19, she was Baseball America's choice for its first Trailblazer of the Year Award.

• Yankees AGM Afterman joins Executive Access

Ila Borders -- Professional starting pitcher
Before she got a chance at the professional level, Borders became the first woman to pitch in a men’s college baseball game at the NCAA or NAIA levels, doing so in 1994 for Southern California College, where she earned a scholarship. The left-hander went on to a significant pro career, taking the mound in 52 independent league games from 1997-2000, making her the first woman to do so in integrated men’s baseball. (Women previously had pitched in the Negro Leagues and some early pro leagues -- see below.) Her debut came as a reliever for the Northern League’s St. Paul Saints on May 31, 1997, and her first start came for the Saints on July 9, 1998. Later that month, Borders notched her first win.

• Let's catch up with Ila Borders

Elaine Weddington Steward -- First woman assistant GM
Steward was the first woman to be an assistant GM in MLB, promoted by the Red Sox in 1990, eight years before Ng became the second woman to hold the position with the Yankees. Steward's promotion was also the first time a Black woman held a position that high in a Major League front office. Thirty-two years after she first joined the Red Sox in 1988, Steward remains with the team as vice president/club counsel, making her one of the Red Sox's longest-tenured employees.

Toni Stone -- First woman to play regularly in a major men’s pro league
How’s this for filling some big shoes? In 1953, when Stone joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League, she took the spot of none other than Hank Aaron, who had just signed with the Milwaukee Braves. Stone played for the Clowns that season and the Kansas City Monarchs in ‘54, reportedly getting a hit off the legendary Satchel Paige. Previously, she had played professionally with teams in the West Coast Negro Baseball League and Negro Southern League.

Mamie Johnson -- First woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues
The 5-foot-4 right-hander, nicknamed “Peanut,” spent three seasons on the mound for the Indianapolis Clowns, from 1953-55. Previously barred from competing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League due to her race, Johnson made the most of her opportunity in the Negro American League. A true two-way player, she is believed to have compiled a 33-8 record on the mound while also holding her own at the plate.

Edith Houghton and Amanda Hopkins -- First female scouts
Houghton and Hopkins are believed to be the only two women to be full-time professional MLB scouts. (You could maybe also include Bessie Largent, who worked with her husband Roy for the White Sox in the 1920s and '30s.) Houghton became the first in '46, when she was hired by the Phillies, after playing as a shortstop herself in women's baseball leagues. Seventy years later, Hopkins joined Houghton when she was hired as a pro scout by the Mariners.

Jackie Mitchell -- The girl who struck out Ruth and Gehrig
In the spring of 1931, the Yankees played an exhibition game against the Chattanooga Lookouts, a Minor League team in the Southern Association. Lookouts owner Joe Engel signed Mitchell, a 17-year-old girl from Memphis, Tenn., to pitch in the game. Mitchell was a talented all-around athlete who played for an all-girls baseball team and learned a “drop ball” from Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance, who happened to be her neighbor. Mitchell came out of the bullpen and with her left-handed sidearm delivery, managed to strike out the great Babe Ruth. She did the same to Lou Gehrig before walking Tony Lazzeri. Mitchell went on to play for a barnstorming team called the House of David, but she’s remembered most for her K’s of two Hall of Famers.

Lizzie Murphy and Lizzie Arlington -- First women to play professional baseball
Murphy, later known as the "Queen of Baseball," grew up in Rhode Island at the turn of the 20th century. At age 17, she became a professional baseball player when she signed with the Providence Independents. She went on to play for traveling all-star and barnstorming teams, and even played in exhibition games against Major Leaguers, including one against the Red Sox at Fenway Park in 1922.

Arlington played for a professional men's baseball team on July 5, 1898, pitching an inning for the Reading Coal Heavers against the Allentown Peanuts in the Eastern League. A Pennsylvania native, she also pitched that year for the Philadelphia Nationals' reserve team, and she was hired by then-Atlantic League president Ed Barrow to play in exhibition games against professional teams around the country.