“Never thought I could do something like this” – Alyssa Nakken becomes first woman on-field coach in MLB history
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Alyssa Nakken
Alyssa Nakken broke all stereotypical barriers on Tuesday night, becoming the first woman to coach on the field in a Major League Baseball (MLB) game. This historic moment came in the San Francisco Giants’ 13-2 victory over the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park.
“Our first-base coach got thrown out,” Nakken said, as quoted by MLB.com. “I’ve been in training as a first-base coach for the last few years. I work alongside Antoan, so I stepped into what I’ve been hired to do.”
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The California native Nakken took over as the Giants’ first-base coach in the top of the third inning after Antoan Richardson was ejected from the game by crew chief Greg Gibson following a dispute with Padres’ third-base coach Mike Shildt. She made her on-field coaching debut with the Giants as an assistant coach in January 2020.
“Lot of opportunities in baseball”
Nakken’s milestone debut came just after fellow trailblazer Rachel Balkovec made her managerial debut with the Yankees’ Single-A affiliate on Friday in Tampa.
“Everybody can just see that there are a lot of opportunities in baseball,” she added. “Sometimes I think we always limit ourselves to thinking what we could do. At least that’s my experience. I never thought that I could do something like this because I never saw it. So I think, sure, it’s certainly important for people to be able to see that this is an opportunity and they can see somebody that kind of looks like them going out there and coaching in the big leagues.”
Alyssa, 31, concluded: “I think we’re all inspirations doing everything that we do on a day-to-day basis. I think this carries a little bit more weight because of the visibility. Obviously, there’s a historical nature to it. But again, this is my job.”
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Sachin Arora
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