Former softball star Jennie Finch will become the first woman to manage a professional baseball team this Sunday, when she is set to guest manage the Bridgeport Bluefish.
The team first announced Finch's guest manager stint in March.
"We are really excited to have Jennie come out and manage the team," Bluefish General Manager Jamie Toole said in a statement. "She is an incredible athlete and a wonderful person, and we hope our fans will enjoy seeing her in a Bluefish uniform for the day."
The right-handed pitcher played for the University of Arizona from 1999 to 2002, and led the team to victory in the 2001 Women’s College World Series. She then steered the U.S. women's softball team to a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, followed by a silver medal in 2008. She retired in 2010 after pitching professionally for the Chicago Bandits.
Finch is the latest woman to break down barriers in the almost entirely-male world of professional sports. In 2014, Becky Hammon was hired by the San Antonio Spurs and became the NBA's first woman assistant coach. The following year, Nancy Lieberman joined the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach. Last year, the NFL announced Sarah Thomas would be the league's first female referee. Jen Welter then became the first woman to coach an NFL team when she interned with the Arizona Cardinals last summer. And in January, the Buffalo Bills hired Kathryn Smith as the league's first full-time female coach.
There's also been some progress in Major League Baseball. The Oakland A's hired Justine Siegal as a guest coach for the club's instructional league last fall, making her the first female coach in MLB history.
The Connecticut-based Bluefish play in the Atlantic League, a professional league independent of Major League Baseball. The league's teams play in markets without a minor league or MLB team.
Finch will also throw out the first pitch at Sunday's game.
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