In the late 1860s, Louisa May Alcott, author of the popular novel Little Women, wanted to try her hand at genres she did not typically write, which turned out to be stories only men had written up to that point. To increase her chances of getting her new works published, she wrote under a male pen name, A M Barnard.
More than a century later, Rachel Balkovec has just finished an internship with the St. Louis Cardinals and was looking for a full-time position. Despite having four years of experience playing Division I softball, a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, and a master’s degree in kinesiology, after applying for 15 different professional sports organizations in the Phoenix area, she only heard back from one.
“We went through the whole interview process, and he offered me a job. I accepted it and was told that HR would reach out in a couple of days, but I never heard from them. A couple of weeks went by with just silence on their end, so I followed up,” said Ms. Balkovec. “Finally, this guy calls me back and he expressed that he really wants to follow through with hiring me, but that the organization’s front office was not ready or willing to hire a woman with their players at that time… He then broke the news to me that he also called around to all the teams that had open roles in the area, the ones I applied to, and they all said the same thing. They weren’t willing to hire a woman. That was the first time that I fully understood the industry’s perspective at the time on women working with professional athletes.”
Not one to shy away from a fight, Ms. Balkovec pushed onward. After continuing to only be offered jobs with women’s sports, Ms. Balkovec took another internship where she worked in both softball and baseball while she waitressed on the side as well. After the internship came to an end, Ms. Balkovec again applied to multiple professional baseball organizations in the off season, but, this time, her sister proposed a change to her resume to hopefully increase her chances. Following in the footsteps of women like Louisa May Alcott, Ms. Balkovec used a male pseudonym on her resume, changing it from “Rachel” to “Rae.” Finally, she was getting phone interviews.
“To be honest with you, it was short lived, because, you know, eventually they were going to find out I was a woman. But, when I did submit my resume with the name Rae on it, I started getting phone calls and email responses that I wasn’t getting before,” said Ms. Balkovec. “Actually getting the responses to my resume gave me the confidence that I was qualified and taking the right steps. I just needed a team to take a chance on me.”
One full year after the end of her internship, the St. Louis Cardinals called Ms. Balkovec letting her know of an opening for a full-time strength and conditioning coach and expressed their desire to have her back on their team. Mr. Balkovec accepted the role with organization’s Rookie League team at the time, making her the first female to hold this position with an MLB-affiliated team.
This would not be the last time Ms. Balkovec’s name had “first” associated with it in her career. In 2019, after spending time in the Netherlands pursuing a second master’s degree and working as an assistant hitting coach for the Dutch baseball and softball programs, Ms. Balkovec returned to the United States and was hired as the New York Yankee’s Minor League hitting coach, becoming the first female to have this role with an MLB-affiliated team. Three years later, the Yankees announced that Ms. Balkovec would manage the Single-A Tampa Tarpons, making her the first female in history to manage a professional baseball team.
In 2024, it was announced that Ms. Balkovec would become the Director of Player Development for the Miami Marlins, where she continues to work today, inspiring the next generation of females who would like to work in the sports industry.
To learn more about her experience as a young female athlete and her ongoing career in baseball, Little League® sat down for a special Girls with Game 50 (#GWG50) Six-Inning Conversation with Ms. Balkovec:
First Inning: What was the best advice you received as a young female athlete?
I am not sure if there is one piece of advice that sticks out to me, but our coaches demanded so much of us as young women and through that they taught us that we were going to have to earn everything we got. They also pushed the idea that it’s not enough, but they did it in such a positive way – where they had extremely high demands but also provided extremely high support. I guess the advice was that you don’t get anything handed to you. That was something my parents also taught me – you want to do it, then you have to earn it.
Second Inning: When you look at your resume, there are a lot of “firsts” tied to your name. What has it meant to you and your journey to be the “first” in so many different avenues of the sports industry?
Frankly, I don’t know yet. I have had to focus on myself a lot through this process, and just figure out how to make myself a credible, qualified candidate and how to network myself each step of the way. So, when I think about what it took to get all of these ‘first,’ I think about how grueling and difficult and emotional it was. But, if I try to zoom out and think about it from a bigger picture, I do hope my journey has helped and continues to help other women. I think 50 years down the road I’ll be able to think more about the significance, but I am still in it right now and the fight is still going… I’m just doing my part and then someday, you know, the torch will be passed to the younger generation to carry it on to whatever they do and wherever they go.
Third Inning: If you had the opportunity to speak with a young female athlete who is just starting her athletic career, what advice would you give her?
Be coachable. Be the first one to the field and the last one to leave. And, be ready to listen when your coach is talking. That was something I was not always very good at. I was a fireball and always had an opinion. I wanted to know why I was being asked to do something, which I think is important to know, but there is also a fine line between asking for a reason and talking back. Also, be the hardest worker in the room and try to lead others to do the same.
Fourth Inning: Based on your experience, what advice would you give to a female who is looking for a professional career in the sports industry?
Take the perspective of earning your stripes and taking the slow way. Seek out the best people in the world and try to learn from them. Read articles, watch videos, and be an intern. I think there are a lot of women out there who don’t want to take an internship, but I did so many internships and they were all valuable to my learning and growing. Maybe it is not the job that you see yourself doing in the future, but you can still learn from it. For example, say you want to be a hitting coach, but you are offered to be a video intern. By taking the video internships, then you’re in the office, filming the hitting coaches, learning from the hitting coaches on how to be a better coach, and you’re building relationships that can help you in the future. So, my advice is to be okay with starting at the bottom of the totem pole, even if it’s the wrong job with the worst pay. Be the fly on the wall, learning and establishing your network of people who will help you grow.
Fifth Inning: How do you feel when you hear the phrase, “if you can see her, you can be her” and did you have anyone you looked to for inspiration when you started your own professional journey?
Sus Falsone was the head athletic trainer for the Los Angeles Dodgers years ago, and when I first saw her photo with the team, I remember it being pierced into my brain. I just remember reading the article and seeing her in the photo and thinking, alright that’s a different profession than what I want to go into, but this organization still hired a woman to do it instead of another male. She in the clubhouse, she’s in the dugout, she’s a part of the team. I knew there was now a door I could possibly go through and that goes with the ‘if you can see it, you can be it’ mentality. I totally believe in that, and I don’t know if I will ever know the actual impact my career had, but I hope there are women out there who are now seeing my photo or reading an article and drawing inspiration from it.
Sixth Inning: Little League is celebrating 50 years of female involvement in the program this year. While we celebrate the past, what do you think is the future for females in sports, whether it is on the field or behind the scenes?
The future is here, and the field is wide open. If you think about it, what still needs to be knocked off other than maybe a primary owner of an MLB team, you know? So, when we say what’s the future, it’s to realize that the opportunity is here for the taking. It’s here. There’s not much that women haven’t done, right? So as people like Kelsey Whitmore retire and go out for jobs like a pitching coach for a professional team, it won’t be as big of a shockwave to the system of baseball. So, yea the opportunities are here for the taking, you just have to go after them.
NOTE: To read more of the Special “Six Inning” Features as part of the Little League Girls with Game 50 Celebration, visit LittleLeague.org/GWG50. The #GWG50 celebration is proudly supported by DICK’S Sporting Goods, a long-time Little League partner that is committing to creating opportunities for girls and women in sports and will be activating for this celebration around key events and milestones this year.