She Got to be Bat Girl 60-years Late

The year was 1961 and 10-year old Gwen Goldman loved baseball and the New York Yankees. So much so she sent a letter to the team asking if they would consider her for "bat girl" for a day and get to be on the field with the players. It didn't go well.

She got a letter back from the then General Manager, Roy Hamey, saying, "In a game dominated by men a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout."

A crusher for sure, but it was 1961, and girls were supposed to be in the kitchen, or teach or maybe become a nurse, but certainly not be on a baseball field, especially the major leagues, with "the guys!"

Flash forward 60-years. Now Gwen is 70, and she has held on to that rejection letter all these years. Her daughter, Abby, knew this, and thought, hey, it's 2021, a new era, and maybe the Yankees would consider her request with more open eyes, so she sent the letter again.

Yankees current general manager, Brian Cashman got the letter and was amazed, and knew he had to do right by Gwen. So, he invited Goldman to be a bat girl and throw out the first pitch and said it wasn't "too late to reward and recognize the ambition you showed in writing that letter to us as a 10-year-old girl."

Gwen Goldman got to be a bat girl for the New York Yankees, 60 years after she was turned down because "she was a girl!" The 70-year-old woman worked for the Yankees during their game against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.

Goldman even got to throw out the first pitch of the game, which the Yankees captured on camera.

How wonderfully sweet is that. Very classy New York Yankees!