NEW YORK -- Every year, National Girls and Women In Sports Day recognizes trailblazing women in the sports world. But a crucial part of this annual celebration is to show young girls and women that they can become the next wave of trailblazers, and to help them along in that journey.
On Wednesday, Major League Baseball welcomed 56 women to its Manhattan headquarters for a day filled with workshops, panels, professional development and networking. The day began with welcome remarks, followed by smaller breakout sessions in which department reps discussed their career paths, what they do at MLB and advice for pursuing careers in sports.
A wide variety of departments were represented, including on-field baseball operations, content, baseball and softball development, and communications. Several club reps were on hand in addition to MLB employees, including Salem Ridge Yaks assistant GM Blair Hoke, chief operating officer of USA Softball Allison Takeda Flaig and D-backs senior director of membership sales and service Jamie Roberts. These presentations varied from slide decks to Q&A sessions, but all were filled with insight into the gears that make the baseball industry turn.
In their session covering on-field baseball operations at MLB, Julia Hernandez and Raquel Wagner discussed everything from communicating about in-game actions and with umpiring groups to the grueling schedule of working in baseball ops. Both emphasized that a big part of a baseball career is that, quite often, they need to plan their lives around the game schedule.
“We're playing on nights, we're playing on weekends, we're playing on holidays,” Wagner said. “We have to be available for those things. We have to be around, and especially when you're starting off early in your career, you need to make yourself available during those times. I can't stress that enough. … If you are working hard, I promise you, somebody is noticing.”
They also gave valuable résumé advice to the wide-eyed participants, which was echoed in later sessions. Hernandez implored everyone to think about transferable skills from their sports experience, even if it’s in something like tennis or field hockey, and consider how these skills have prepared them to embrace a career in baseball. Wagner emphasized that résumés submitted for baseball ops roles might go through several rounds before they reach assistant GMs and GMs, and urged participants to make sure their résumés are mistake-free with consistent, clear formatting to put their best feet forward.
After a lunch break, the participants toured MLB’s replay room facilities to get a peek behind the curtain of how MLB HQ communicates with umpires during in-game challenges.
The afternoon consisted of two more panels further spanning the baseball world. The first was titled “Women in the League” and featured Mets Double-A hitting coach Rachel Folden, A’s player development coordinator/MLB Girls Baseball Ambassador Veronica Alvarez and Double-A announcer Emma Tiedemann. The second focused on women in senior business roles at MLB and featured SVP and head counsel of business and technology Sarah Horvitz, VP of MiLB business operations Allison Creekmore and VP of media business development and strategy Alex Cadicamo.
In the second panel, the participants all touched on no two days being the same while working in baseball, collaborating closely with other departments and the subject of leadership. Creekmore noted that leadership “doesn’t always come with a title” and that emotional intelligence is a critical skill for being a good leader. Horvitz added that in her legal group, “self starters and self learners” are highly valued among prospective applicants.
As one of her final points, Cadicamo encouraged all in attendance to “be a student of sports” and “read as much as you possibly can” as they begin their careers, emphasizing that understanding how the industry operates at a deep level will set them up for success.
The day ended with a professional development presentation, followed by closing remarks and a networking session. The participants left MLB HQ with new industry contacts, detailed insight into the baseball world and actionable steps for embarking on a sports career.
“MLB having an event like this is super important because it gives women the ability to become professionals in baseball working in different departments, and it allows women to connect better with the sport,” said Lauren Vuorinen, who attended the event. “It really puts a foot in the door in saying that we belong here and this is how we’re going to expand on the sport, and hopefully make it even bigger.”