PASCO, WA — A 9-2 win for the Tri-City Dust Devils over the Hillsboro Hops won't be remembered in the history books for the score, but for the gender barrier that was broken in the game.
Ronnie Gajownik, the new skipper of the Arizona Diamondbacks High-A affiliate, became the first woman to manage a game at that level of minor league baseball.
The first of many lineup cards for @RonnieGajownik! pic.twitter.com/OX0PtV5fZa
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 7, 2023
Gajownik was hired as manager of the Hops in January. She was the team's video coordinator for the Hops in 2021. Last season, she was on the coaching staff of the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the Diamondback's Double-A affiliate, as first-base coach.
The Hops' manager isn't the first woman to ever manage a minor league game. Rachel Balkovec became the first female manager in any level of affiliated baseball for the Yankees Single-A affiliate Tampa Yankees. But she will always be known as the first woman to manage at the High-A level.
Gajownik was a two-year starter on South Florida's softball team and won a gold medal with the United States in the 2015 Pan American Games.
She also drew national attention during spring training when she served as the bench coach of the Diamondbacks during a game in early March.
“It's cool to take a step back and realize how far women have come,” Gajownik said at the time. “And then also, me personally as a coach, all the work I've put in myself and then all the work the Diamondbacks have put into me, my family, my friends, my wife. It's just cool to see the culmination of everything coming together. It's a cool moment.”
