Pro baseball's first female manager Rachel Balkovec wins in historic debut

LAKELAND — An entire middle school athletic department, a women’s college lacrosse team and young girls dressed in pink wearing motivational messages on their T-shirts — there was no mistaking the supportive and historic vibe at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium Friday night as 34-year old Rachel Balkovec took groundbreaking steps out of the dugout when introduced as the manager for the New York Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons.

The first female manager in the history of minor or major league-affiliated baseball was on the field again about three hours later, this time shaking hands with her ecstatic team after a powerful 9-6 win over the Lakeland Flying Tigers. The victory — secured by Tarpons first baseman Anthony Garcia’s seventh-inning grand slam — was so popular, the loud and enthusiastic crowd of about 3,000 roared approval even in the hometown team’s loss.

The celebration was reflective of the impact of Balkovec’s presence and example — the decadelong work she has turned in to earn her leadership position with the Tarpons. And the recognition from the young and old, from men and women, extended well beyond the diamond.

“I really like that she’s opening doors for other girls like me so if we ever wanted to play baseball we could, we could do anything we wanted,’’ said 10-year old Filamena DeGroot, whose family made the hour drive from Tampa just to be a part of this big sports moment and even got an autograph from Balkovec before pregame warmups.

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It was sentiment shared by many smiling faces and proud hearts on Friday.

“As a woman working in the sports industry, any opportunity in a field that’s predominantly male-dominated, just being able to celebrate those opportunities is really great,’’ said Brittany Iamele, 22, a lacrosse player at Lakeland’s Florida Southern College, whose entire team showed up to support Balkovec on the historic night.

“This is such a groundbreaking opportunity for a woman to be able to coach in a male sport, a sport where no women play.

“It’s so awesome and inspiring to see a person like that be able to break into this industry. It makes me more hopeful for my future to go into the sports industry. It’s an exciting thing to see.’’

The Tarpons provided plenty of drama on-field as well — from extra base hits to throwing errors. Balkovec coached first base, and from time to time was patting players on the back to congratulate them on a solid hit. Other times she was shaking her head running off the field after a missed scoring opportunity.

Balkovec’s parents — Bonnie and Jim — flew into Tampa Friday morning from the family’s home in Omaha, Nebraska, and after snapping a few photos of their daughter in the dugout pregame, sat three rows behind home plate for the game — the enormity of the occasion was easy to see in their proud smiles.

Their presence has always been particularly important to Balkovec, who credits her upbringing with allowing her to always dream big and have the courage to see gender barriers more as unrealized goals.

“I remember having some influences as a young woman who were female athletes, and I don’t know why I said I wanted to be the first female at something, but I guess I was seeing into the future,’’ said Balkovec, sharing with a smile Friday morning that she wanted to be an NFL kicker when she was a little girl.

“Absolutely, I was a tomboy, I was definitely a girl who was a very aggressive athlete, and I have two sisters who are also very aggressive athletes growing up, and you can thank Bonnie and Jim Balkovec for that because they treated us as capable young people and not ‘you’re a girl and you can’t do this.’

“I really didn’t know any different. I knew I was a competitive athlete, and I didn’t really think to myself ‘I’m a girl so I can’t be like this.’ I just always thought I want to be the best I can be at everything. So, I started that work ethic extremely young, thanks to my parents.

“I was always really aggressive going after just about anything I wanted and nothing really has changed since then. If you’re asking me if I have always been like this, the answer is, ‘yes.’“

Balkovec did the hard work, becoming bilingual — an invaluable skill in baseball — earning a graduate degree in sports administration and showing the willingness to take positions even overseas to learn multiple facets of the game. She was a strength and conditioning coach with the St. Louis Cardinals' rookie league team, a hitting coach in the Netherlands, a strength and conditioning coach with the Houston Astros' system and a hitting coach last season with the Yankees’ Florida Complex League (FCL) where the team led the league in runs scored, home runs, RBIs and slugging parentage.

Her easy interactions with her players — from inside jokes to playing their favorite music in the clubhouse (loudly) — along with her knowledge of the game and frank openness that she is learning every day seem to have won over her most important group of critics: her team. And the look on their faces as they celebrated the season-opening win left no doubt that they are “one” — united to win and committed to their leader.

“It was really awesome to get Rachel’s first win as a manager and it to be her first game,’’ Tarpons outfielder Ryder Green said Friday night. “We had some big hits, some timely hits, it was a good team win. We played good defense behind our pitching and our pitching threw strikes so overall it was a great game.

“It was pretty electric, to be honest with you. Just having a lot of women here [in the stands] was really cool. You don’t get that a lot. For the first game to have a lot of fans, have a good crowd it was really fun.

“It doesn’t need to be said,’’ Green insisted of his team’s motivation to win Friday. “It was a moment we all understood what we had to do. We were going to do everything we possibly could to get a W for her and just for the team to start off the season in the right way and move forward in the right direction.

“This was exciting. To be a part of history was something special.’’

Even as the stadium lights were dimmed for a special postgame fireworks show, Balkovec stood by her dugout at the foot of the grandstands. And for the next 30 minutes she signed every single autograph and posed for photos with every single person who asked — a long line of girls, young women and regular ‘ol baseball fans appreciative to have witnessed sports history firsthand.

Afterward, before returning to a locker room that the Lakeland Flying Tigers specially decorated with homemade motivational posters drawn by hand by local, young female athletes, Balkovec stopped in the outfield to sign again. This time she signed a Tarpons cap, a game ball and her No. 22 jersey — all headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Strangely, I did (always hope for a moment like this),’’ Balkovec said afterward.

“I’ve always had a very strong vision, not specifically of this maybe, but I’ve always had a very strong vision for my life and understood I could make a really huge impact — that no matter what area I’m in I could have a big impact and I’ve felt that from a young age.’’

As for the game itself and the season moving forward, Balkovec offered a big grin.

“I’m just really proud of them and how we competed and our demeanor as a team,’’ she said.

“They are my brothers and my sons. I don’t know if it’s more comforting or calming because I know they are right behind me and support me. But it makes everything easier and more fun. And I feel the same way about them.

“I’m going to work really hard for them and they’re going to work really hard for me. This is best case scenario for a new manager — obviously a different situation — to have so many guys on the team that want to compete for you. I want to work hard for them and be the best manager for them. It’s just the ideal situation’

And lastly, Balkovec said she absolutely heard the cheers and understood the moment. It was an important night for her but also for all the young women and little girls in the stands.

“I’ve never heard my name chanted like that,’’ she said, breaking in to a smile. “I just see me sitting in the stands — 15 or 20 years ago — so it’s really cool, especially for all those female athletes that came out and are here in this moment.

“Maybe they don’t even fully understand it right now, but obviously in the future, when they get into their professional careers and maybe hit some brick walls that maybe they’ll reflect on this moment too.’’

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rachel Balkovec, pro baseball's first female manager, wins in debut