70-year-old has the 'thrill of a lifetime' as Yankees' bat girl for a night

Gwen Goldman came out swinging on Monday night, ready to spend the next nine innings as the New York Yankees' bat girl.

Goldman, 70, is a retired social worker. In 1961, she sent a letter to the Yankees' then-general manager, Roy Hamey, inquiring about becoming a bat girl. He replied, telling her he agreed that "girls are certainly as capable as boys, and no doubt would be an attractive addition on the playing field, [but] I am sure you can understand that it is a game dominated by men [and] a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout."

Sixty years later, Goldman's daughter, Abby, wrote her own email to the Yankees, making the pitch for her mom to finally become a bat girl. The note made its way to Brian Cashman, the current general manager, who responded to Goldman, saying it's "not too late to reward and recognize the ambition you showed in writing that letter to us as a 10-year-old girl. Some dreams take longer than they should to be realized, but a goal attained should not dim with the passage of time."

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Goldman was the bat girl for the Yankees versus Angels game, and said the whole night felt like a dream — from seeing her name on a locker to walking on the field to throwing the ceremonial first pitch. "It took my breath away," she told The Associated Press, adding, "It was a thrill of a lifetime — times a million."