Yesterday, news came out that the Sonoma Stompers (Pacific Association) signed two female players to be on the team, Kelsie Whitmore and Stacy Piagno:
- Times Herald Online article (click here)
- MRCTV article (click here)
The two players played last night and marked the first time in professional baseball that two women were on the field at the same time. Here is the recap from the Stompers’ website, including quotes from the players and coaching staff:
Here are news video articles about the signings:
Here is the box score from last night’s game, with Piagno starting the game and earning the loss, going 2 innings and giving up 4 runs (2 earned):
JJ Cooper, a longtime writer for Baseball America and covering the independent leagues, has written two “Independent Audit” columns for Baseball America this year about women in pro baseball — in particular independent baseball:
- http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/female-managers-indy-ball-will-lead-the-way/
- http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/justine-siegal-first-female-manager/
With their appearances last night, here is the updated list of women who have been in uniform as a player (regular season or spring training), coach or manager in the independent professional minor league baseball industry since the 1993 inception of independent baseball. It will appear in chronological order of appearance; but this list does not include any women who have been trainers, general managers, team executives, owners, or league officials in the independent leagues — only those who have been in uniform in some capacity.
Women In Independent Professional Minor League Baseball Since 1993
- Kendra Hanes (Kentucky Rifles, Frontier League 1994 – old newspaper article here and stats here)
- Ila Borders (several teams, first year was 1997 with the St. Paul Saints and Duluth-Superior Dukes –Wikipedia article here and stats here)
- Perry Barber (umpire in the Atlantic League starting in 1998 — article here)
- Kendall Burnham (San Angelo Colts, 2003 – stats here)
- Kate Sargeant (umpire in American Association and United League starting in 2007 — article here)
- Justine Siegal (coach for Brockton Rox, 2009 and will manage in the Pacific Association later this year — see the Baseball America articles listed earlier in this post — Baseball De World article here and Brockton Rox article here)
- Eri Yoshida (first year was the Chico Outlaws 2010 — stats here and article about her signing here)
- Tiffany Brooks (spring training with Big Bend Cowboys — article here — and Arizona Winter League — article here)
- Oz Sailors (pitcher in 2015 with the San Rafael Pacifics — article here)
- Jennie Finch (guest manager for the Bridgeport Bluefish in 2016 — article here)
- Kelsie Whitmore (Sonoma Stompers 2016 — stats here)
- Stacy Piagno (Sonoma Stomers 2016 — stats here)
- Anna Kimbrell (Sonoma Stompers 2016 — article here)
Additionally, here is another resource about women in baseball from USAbaseball.com (click here).
Since IndependentBaseball.net wants this post to be the definitive resource about women who have played, coached, managed or umpired in the independent professional baseball leagues then please let us know about any missing names from this list. If any are missing then please include authoritative evidence (e.g. newspaper articles, team press releases or game recaps, or video footage). If we include the missing names then you are welcome to receive credit for your contributing to this list. Thank you for helping us improve the accuracy of this list.
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