The Seattle Mariners are helping shine a spotlight on the important role women play in the game of baseball. On Tuesday, August 15, before the Mariners meet the Baltimore Orioles, fans will have the chance to hear from an accomplished group of baseball veterans including the first full-time female scout hired by a Major League team since the 1950s.
Women In Baseball
The August 15 event is the first of the Beyond the Baselines series that will highlight various aspects of the game that might not be apparent to casual observers or even avid fans.
Specially priced tickets are available for $32 each exclusively at Mariners.com/Women. The ticket package includes a Women In Baseball T-shirt, coupon for a free drink, View Level game ticket and admission to a pregame event in The 'Pen, which begins at 5:10 pm, featuring a panel discussion among a group of women who work in various capacities in baseball. Deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, August 14 at 5:00 pm. The panel will also be streamed on Facebook Live.
Pregame Panel
Moderated by Baseball Prospectus writer Meg Rowley, the panelists include Shannon Drayer, Mariners beat reporter for 710 ESPN, the Seattle Mariners radio rightsholder; Sarah Gelles, Director of Analytics & Major League Contracts for the Baltimore Orioles; Amanda Hopkins, area scout for the Mariners; and Kelly Munro, Mariners Sr. Manager of Baseball information.
Panelist Bios
Shannon Drayer began covering Mariners games in 1998 as part of her duties as reporter and update anchor for KJR AM. She has covered the team on a daily basis home and away since 2003 when she was hired by then-radio rightsholder KOMO Radio. Since 2009, Drayer has served as 710 ESPN's Mariners beat reporter, interviewing players and coaches before and after games and contributing updates and analysis for pre and postgame programming. While continuing in her reporting role, she took over hosting the pre and postgame shows in 2017. She also writes a Mariners blog for the station's website.
Sarah Gelles is in her seventh season with the Orioles and her second as Director of Analytics & Major League Contracts. In this role, Gelles leads the club's Analytics department, oversees development of internal baseball operations systems, handles Major League roster management and rules compliance, and assists Executive Vice President Dan Duquette with player acquisitions and other aspects of baseball operations. Gelles, 29, began her career with the Orioles as a Baseball Operations intern in 2011 and was appointed Coordinator of Baseball Analytics in 2012. She was promoted to Director of Baseball Analytics in 2014. Before arriving at the Orioles, Gelles worked for the Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Major League Baseball's Labor Relations Department. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Amherst College and currently resides in Baltimore, MD.
Amanda Hopkins, a former Central Washington University softball player, is in her second season as Mariners scout for the "Four Corners" area of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Prior to being hired in December 2015, Hopkins served as an intern in the Mariners scouting department. Hopkins, who played four years of softball at CWU, where she was team captain during her senior year, is the daughter of Ron Hopkins, assistant to the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Baseball America has reported that Hopkins is believed to be the first full-time female scout hired by a Major League team since the 1950s.
Kelly Munro is in her 17th season with the Seattle Mariners, including 16 seasons as part of the Baseball Information department. In her current role as Senior Manager of Baseball Information, she assists with internal and external communication efforts of the organization including player and media relations, publications and credentialing. The Port Angeles, Wash., native attended Western Washington University, where she received a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Economics. Kelly and her husband, Chris Hunke, have two young children, Max and Mackenzie.
Panel moderator Meg Rowley is a contributing writer for Baseball Prospectus, a website dedicated to statistical analysis of baseball. Her work has also appeared at Lookout Landing, Just A Bit Outside, and Vice Sports, and in the Baseball Prospectus Annual. She won the 2017 Society for American Baseball Research Analytics Conference Research Award in Contemporary Baseball Commentary for her piece "Let Ballparks Get Old. She lives in Seattle.