It’s never too late to make things right. As a 10-year-old fan living in Westport, Connecticut, Gwen Goldman wanted nothing more than to be a bat girl for her beloved New York Yankees. Goldman was crestfallen when the team rejected her application, receiving a letter from then-general manager Roy Hamey informing her that women were not permitted to hold that particular role. “While we agree with you that girls are certainly as capable as boys and no doubt would be an attractive addition on the playing field, I am sure you can understand that it in a game dominated by men, a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout,” Hamey explained when he delivered the bad news in 1961.
Obviously, society’s perception of women in sports has drastically evolved since then with Marlins exec Kim Ng recently becoming MLB’s first female general manager. Seeing the error of their ways, the Yankees did what they should have done decades ago by offering Goldman, now 70, the long-overdue chance to serve as bat girl for Monday night’s game against the Angels. Donning the pinstripes she should have been allowed to wear in 1961, Goldman threw out the first pitch to utility player Tyler Wade in front of 25,000+ fans at Yankee Stadium.
“It was a thrill of a lifetime—times a million,” said Goldman, who received her invite during a surprise Zoom call with GM Brian Cashman and star pitcher Gerrit Cole only a few days earlier. “The whole piece, from walking in the front door of the stadium at Gate 2, to coming up to a locker with my name on it that said Gwen Goldman, and suiting up, then walking out onto the field. It took my breath away.”
Despite the Yankees snubbing her all those years ago, Goldman, who retired from her job as a social worker at a local preschool in 2017, says she never held a grudge. “I didn’t hold it against them. I loved the Yankees,” Goldman expressed to Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. “I never in my wildest dreams thought that 60 years later, Brian Cashman would make this become a reality.”
Unfortunately, the Yankees weren’t able to win on Goldman’s big day, falling to the Angels, led by Shohei Ohtani's MLB-leading 26th homer, 5-3. That extended New York's slide to four games while dropping the struggling Bombers to fourth in the AL East.
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