Five women are about to make Major League Baseball history.
A game next week between the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays is set to have a team of five women serve as the on-air crew, which is "believed to be the first time an all-women team will handle the entire broadcast for a major league game," The New York Times reports.
Play-by-play announcer Melanie Newman is set to call the action, while Sarah Langs will serve as analyst in the booth, Alanna Rizzo will provide on-field reporting, and the pre-game and post-game shows will be anchored by Heidi Watney and Lauren Gardner, according to the report. Newman previously took part in the first all-female minor league baseball game broadcast in 2019.
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"It can't help but feel different," Rizzo told the Times. "I've always had a male play-by-play voice in my ear during every game I've ever done. So, to do a game where those voices are Melanie and Sarah, that will be a unique feeling and a unique perspective of the game. It's exciting to be a part of something like this. … It's not an all-male game anymore, and we don't live in an all-male world."
Sportscaster Suzyn Waldman told the Times this is a "big deal," though at the same time, she said she's "looking forward to when this is no longer a novelty event." Newman also told the Times, "We also want to make sure that while we are getting all these firsts in there, that we also are not the last."
