First female coach on field in USA’s highest baseball league

In the United States, a woman has coached on the field for the first time in a top-level baseball (MLB) game. 31-year-old Alyssa Nakken, normally an outside assistant coach of the MLB club San Francisco Giants, was allowed to coach on the field when coach Antoan Richardson was ejected. A player from opponent San Diego Padres immediately congratulated her on the milestone.

Nakken started as an intern at the club in 2014, after which she was promoted to assistant coach in 2020. She became the first female coach to be employed full-time by an MLB club. For the first time on the field, she was partly responsible for her team’s 13-2 win over the Padres on Tuesday.

As she left the field, she got another hug from one of her players. Nakken called her performance “amazing”. “I have never felt any lack of support from this club. Going on the field was a no-brainer, this is my job.”