Simons: Women in the game of baseball
From Greg Simons at The Hardball Times on December 30, 2013, with mention of SABR member Ben Lindbergh:
A while back, there was the following exchange in a Baseball Prospectus chat hosted by Ben Lindbergh:
thatjerkjames (Manhattan): Ballpark % likelihood of a female holding these positions in MLB in the next 30 years: general manager, manager, position player, pitcher, umpire.
Ben Lindbergh: Good question! And probably a good podcast topic. Okay, I’ll guess: 85, 20, 2, 8, 90.
My initial reaction was that Ben was quite optimistic with his percentages. Upon reflection, I think Ben was quite optimistic with his percentages.
Sure, 30 years is a long time, and our biases and stereotypes have changed greatly over the decades, but there will continue to be numerous roadblocks in the path of any woman who tries to make inroads into Major League Baseball.
I’d like to delve a bit deeper into each of the positions mentioned in the question above and come up with my best guess at the percentage chance of each of these roles being filled by a female at some point in the next three decades.
Read the full article here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/women-in-the-game-of-baseball/
Originally published: January 2, 2014. Last Updated: January 2, 2014.