Yankees make history after hiring first female manager in the minor leagues

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Yankees make history after hiring first female manager in the minor¹ leagues

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The New York Yankees named Rachel Balkovec as the manager of one of their minor league affiliates³ — making her the first woman to break into the managerial ranks at that level.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The New York Yankees made history this week. Yesterday, they introduced Rachel Balkovec as the new manager of their minor league team in Tampa. The 34-year-old will be the first-ever full-time⁴ female manager for a major league team or one of its minor league affiliates. Here's NPR's Tom Goldman.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE⁵: Baseball reporters love history, which Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo noted⁶ as he introduced Rachel Balkovec.

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JASON ZILLO: Obviously, that's why we have 112 participants on this Zoom⁷ call.

GOLDMAN: Everyone was eager to meet the manager. Baseball's made other historic female hires of late. In 2020, Kim Ng became the first major league general manager, Alyssa Nakken the first full-time major league coach. But Balkovec will be the first on-field boss - setting lineups, strategizing, running the show for the Tampa Tarpons. She knows wins and losses aren't as important in the minors⁸ as development.

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RACHEL BALKOVEC: My goal is, really, to know the names of the girlfriends, the dogs, the families of all the players. My goal is to develop them as young men and young people who have an immense amount of pressure on them.

GOLDMAN: Minor leaguers grind far from the fame and fortune of the majors. The Tarpons will find a kindred spirit in their new manager.

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BALKOVEC: Three years ago, on this day, I was sleeping on a mattress⁹ that I had pulled out of a dumpster in Amsterdam.

GOLDMAN: That was while she was studying for a second master's degree, this one in the Netherlands. A former college softball catcher, Balkovec has spent 10 years in baseball as a strength and conditioning coach and hitting instructor¹⁰ with several major league organizations, including the Yankees, who hired her in 2019 as a minor league hitting coach. Baseball's also taken her to Australia and the Dominican Republic.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish).

GOLDMAN: Along the way, Balkovec learned Spanish to better communicate with baseball's many Latino players.

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BALKOVEC: I knew right away when I got in baseball, that was one of the first things that I needed to do to connect with them, and now, 10 years later, it's still serving me.

GOLDMAN: Despite her impressive resume, Balkovec discovered baseball wasn't always a meritocracy when it came to females. Years ago, she was in Arizona job-hunting during spring training. She was told she wouldn't be hired because she was a woman. Her sister came up with an idea - apply for the baseball jobs with the name Rae. Balkovec says she got a lot of positive responses until one team called her and realized Rae was Rachel. The team never called back.

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BALKOVEC: At the end of the day, you just have to look yourself in the mirror and be like, well, you know, if they don't want to hire me because I'm a woman, I probably don't want to work for those people. And if this takes years, then it takes years.

GOLDMAN: Balkovec doesn't sugarcoat the experiences of discrimination and loneliness. Her message to young women hoping to succeed in male-dominated worlds - expect it and use it.

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BALKOVEC: This is a little counterintuitive, but I'm glad I was discriminated¹¹ against. If you're feeling like you're not welcome or it's a difficult path, good. You know, try to look at yourself and go, this is going to be good for me in the future, even if it doesn't feel good in the moment.

GOLDMAN: Yankees executive Kevin Reese said before Balkovec got her new job, there wasn't much debate about baseball being ready for a first female manager.

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KEVIN REESE: This is just putting a really good employee into an elevated position and hoping that it's going to go really well, you know, just like it is with every hire.

GOLDMAN: Of course, every hire doesn't get a congratulatory message from women's sports legend Billie Jean King, a message that prompted Balkovec to laughingly say yesterday, I can die now. But really, she can't; she's got a baseball team to run.

Tom Goldman, NPR News.

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1 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 affiliates   

附属企业( affiliate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She affiliates with an academic society. 她是某学术团体的成员。
• For example, these security affiliates participated in the floating of 19,000,000,000 of issues in 1927. 例如，这些证券发行机构在1927年的流通证券中，就提供了一百九十亿美元的证券。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

8 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

10 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

11 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？