GOOD NEWS
Anyone following this blog recently may have noticed that I’ve not been a happy camper lately. Sort of grumpy, actually. In one article after another, it seems like all I’ve done is grumble.
I’ve grumbled about the Washington Nationals visiting the White House after winning the World Series, and before them I grumbled about the Boston Red Sox going there. I’ve also grumbled about my beloved Yankees for its silly policy prohibiting beards and long hair policy.
So it’s refreshing to finally write something positive and pass along a couple of things that make me think, “Way to go! One of them is Rachel Balkovec. She’s just become the first woman hired as a fulltime batting coach by a major league organization, and by the Yankees no less.
Balkovec, 32, will report to Tampa, Florida on February 1 where she will be assigned to one of the Yankees’ minor league teams. Just last month, she was at a conference in Fort Lauderdale featuring major league hitting coaches when someone asked if she were attending the conference.
“Yes.”
“Oh, who are you married to?”
As reported by Lindsay Berra in the New York Times, it was the kind of stereotypical response Balkovec often gets.
By all accounts, Balkovec is well-qualified for her new position. She has two Masters degrees in human movement and experience with several minor league clubs. Dillon Lawson, the Yankees’ hitting coordinator, summed the situation up perfectly. “Rachel is a good hitting coach, and a good coach period.”
The other good news item concerns Bruce Bochy, longtime manager of the New York Giants.
It’s just been announced that he’s agreed to become manager of the French National Team as it tries to qualify for the World Baseball Classic in 2021.
“We’re honored and excited,” said Didier Seminet, president of the French Baseball Association, noting Bochy’s special relationship with France. Bochy, who won three World Series with the Giants, was born in Bussac-Foret in 1955. His father was stationed in the country with the U.S. Army.
Bochy’s job will not be easy. Baseball is a minor sport in France and the country has lagged behind others in developing the game. It’s failed twice to qualify for the World Baseball Classic, first in 2013 and later in 2017. More recently, in 2019, it finished seventh out of 12 teams competing in the European Baseball Championships.
More than 100 years ago, the picture was dramatically different. In 1914, just before World War I, sporting goods magnate A. J. Spalding hailed France as “the next baseball nation.”
Major league clubs staged exhibitions throughout the country, playing before crowds that numbered in the thousands. People everywhere were excited. One French official even predicted that the game would become more popular in France than the United States.
But then came World War I, and after it another world war. Baseball came to a halt.
When it resumed, it was dealt another blow. That was in 1966 when President Charles de Gaulle took France out of military wing of NATO. American soldiers with their bats and balls were sent packing. “That really hurt us,” said a spokesman for the French Baseball Association. Baseball fields were dug up to make room for roads and housing developments and France turned its attention to other sports like soccer and bicycle racing.
Only about 13,000 now play baseball in France compared to more than a million for soccer.
So Bochy has his work cut out for him. But he’s not fazed; he’s excited. “Even though I’m no longer with the Giants,” he said, “I want to stay involved in the game and give back to baseball what it’s given to me.”
