(L-R) Lauren Gardner, Sarah Langs, Melanie Newman, Heidi Watney.Photo: Billy Lee/MLB Network
“Representation is important in every role and my hope is for this broadcast to become commonplace in the future,” Gardner, who works for MLB Network alongside Watney and Rizzo, said in a statement ahead of the game.
Gardner toldMLB.comthat when she first glanced at her schedule, she didn’t realize she was about to be a part of history — but then an MLB Network public relations representative asked her for comment.
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“I [thought], ‘This is awesome. Then someone said, ‘You know, these are all women.’ It took a minute for that to sink in, that we were going to be a part of history,” she said.
Lauren Gardner and Heidi Watney.Billy Lee/MLB Network
“I sent out a little text to everyone and said, ‘Just remember. You’re here because you love the game,'” she recalled to hostHoda Kotb. “And that’s what fans want to see — the joy you have for the sport they love.”
“That’s very important. Women have to continue to carve out their place,” outfielder Anthony Santander told a teammate. “They are already smarter than we are anyway.”
“To do a game where those voices are Melanie and Sarah, that will be a unique feeling and a unique perspective of the game. It’s exciting to be a part of something like this,” she said. “It shows that the world is changing and it’s more accepting of different voices and different looks and perspectives of the game. It’s not an all-male game anymore, and we don’t live in an all-male world.”
Watney, too, emphasized the fact that baseball is for everyone.
“That’s important for not just little girls to see, but little boys to see that it’s normal, it doesn’t matter your gender. It matters that you’re passionate and [have] love for the sport, and your knowledge and your understanding of the sport,” she told MLB.com. “It’s important, but for me, it’s going to be another day at work. It’s prepping for the Rays and O’s.”
The first woman to broadcast a televised baseball game was Gayle Gardner in 1993, and the first all-female broadcast of a minor league game — which Newman was a part of — aired in 2019, according toThe New York Times.
Noah Garden, MLB’s chief revenue officer, told theTimesthat the league plans to feature all-female broadcast booths more regularly.
source: people.com
