Marchand: Will Jean Afterman be baseball’s first female GM? The sport should be so lucky
From Andrew Marchand at ESPN.com on April 12, 2017:
George Steinbrenner was fuming. At his Seinfeld caricature best, his legendary red-hot anger could’ve melted the phone line.
It was a spring day in 1997 and The Boss was demanding to speak with Jean Afterman.
Afterman was the vice president of KDN Sports, a Japanese-owned sports management firm based in San Francisco. She and Don Nomura represented the New York Yankees’ Hideki Irabu. Irabu had arrived in the United States hyped as the “Nolan Ryan of Japan.” But he wasn’t pitching that way.
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For a decade and a half now, Afterman has been the glue of the franchise, so valued by the organization that she recently signed a three-year contract even though her boss, Cashman, is in the final season of his deal. She’s currently the only female executive with the title, making her the highest-ranking woman in any club’s front office.
Cashman says she could become baseball’s first female GM. Afterman doesn’t want the job.
Read the full article here: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19103117/will-new-york-yankees-jean-afterman-baseball-first-female-gm-sport-lucky
- Related link: Jean Afterman is scheduled to speak at the SABR 47 convention in New York this summer; register today to join us
Originally published: April 20, 2017. Last Updated: April 20, 2017.