This minor league team’s general manager knows she’s ‘playing ball with the boys’

Courtney Knichel is among the few female executives in baseball

The Lily News
Jul 23, 2017 · 5 min read
Courtney Knichel, the general manager of the independent Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, oversees a game night. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post/Lily illustration)

Original story by The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore.

WWomen work in sports in small proportion compared with men, especially when it comes to personnel. As major league sports teams seek out executives with analytical expertise and business backgrounds, playing experience — and, therefore, gender — matters less than ever.

Courtney Knichel, the general manager of the minor league’s Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, approves and executes every move, negotiates contracts and oversees every department: ticket sales, marketing, sponsorships operations, all of it.

Knichel inherited the position late in 2015, a decade after joining the team at its inception as an intern. Her gender makes her position notable, but she will not allow it to dictate how she views or performs her job. “Literally the only difference is having to answer that kind of question,” she said. But in small moments, she can sense how those around her are accustomed to working exclusively with men.

Knichel’s not alone

In 1998, New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman hired Kim Ng, a contractual expert, as an assistant general manager. Twenty years later, having held several front-office positions, Ng works in the commissioner’s office. She interviewed five times for GM jobs without breaking through, and the number of women in front-office baseball operations roles has remained near zero.

Knichel knows every aspect of the Blue Crabs’ operation. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

Jean Afterman, who replaced Ng with the Yankees, is the only female assistant general manager in the majors. A study the Blue Crabs performed last year turned up two female general managers in the affiliated minor leagues, in which GMs have no say over the roster.

“Certainly, there are more women in a variety of positions now than ever before,” said Amy Trask, who served as the Oakland Raiders’ chief executive for more than two decades. She pointed specifically to Jeanne Bonk, Hannah Gordon and Katie Blackburn, who hold high-ranking, business-side titles with the Chargers, 49ers and Bengals.

But even though the gender of baseball personnel is beginning to matter less and less, the shift is not represented in hiring practices. The online program for the 2017 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston — which included executives, players, coaches, media members and marketers from across all sports — listed 36 women among 236 speakers, about 15 percent.

So Knichel, even on the periphery of professional sports, is a rare figure. She still views herself as a diligent lifer in a job she loves, not a trailblazer or torch carrier.

‘Wow, she’s impressive’

Knichel’s career path started with an accident. She had grown up in Benedict watching the Orioles and tagging along to her brothers’ baseball games but never envisioned working in sports. At Muskingum University in Ohio, Knichel studied marketing and communications and planned to be a news anchor.

In the Atlantic League, a GM not only must decide when the tarp should come out, but she also needs to help pull. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

Late in her senior year, her mother, Tina Wagner, applied her for an internship at the new ballpark being built in Waldorf. Knichel was at a sorority party when she learned she got the job. She wrote the details down on a napkin.

Knichel showed up for her first day in stilettos and dress pants. She learned she would be changing out trash bags. When the cleaning crew quit one night, interns rushed to the park at 2 a.m. to pick up trash. But she fell in love with baseball, with the tightknit feel of the staff, with the community the team created.

The Blue Crabs became entwined with her life. The salary wasn’t much, so she cashed in savings bonds and scooped ice cream to pay her rent. She moved to assistant marketing director, then marketing director. She met her husband in the front office. The old general manager left after the 2015 season, and Knichel took over. In April, she went into labor while finishing the yearbook. In the delivery room, she thrust pages at Tina and yelled, “Edit this!”

Jack Lavoie, a Virginia lawyer, bought the majority share of the Blue Crabs this winter and met with Knichel.

Many independent league players are not used to seeing a woman in the clubhouse. Last year, one player made a crack about Knichel peeking at unclothed players. In explicit language, Knichel told him never to say anything like that again. The player no longer plays for Southern Maryland.

“I roll my eyes. I walk away. I get on to the next thing,” Knichel said. “The first time I went in there and they made comments, ‘Oh, you’re looking . . .’ — that [ticked] me off. I’m a professional.”

“She’s the type of woman who, she’s going to tell you what it is, right then and there,” starting pitcher Daryl Thompson said. “She’s not going to bite her tongue. That might intimidate some guys, to be honest. I feel like if you have a problem, then you’re just intimidated.”

The Lily

The Lily was the first U.S. newspaper for and by women. We’re bringing it back.

The Lily News

Written by

The Lily

The Lily

The Lily was the first U.S. newspaper for and by women. We’re bringing it back.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade