Coach

My breathing was quick. My hands were sweaty. My stomach was queasy, and my mouth was dry. It felt like eternity until it was my time to speak into the microphone. As shy as I am, I can't help myself; if there is something that I have to say, I'm going to say it.

It wasn't life or death—just public speaking. But my body was in a fight-or-flight mode. I was in Cleveland at the 2008 annual convention for the Society of American Baseball Research listening to a panel discussion that included famous promoter and Minor League Baseball team owner, Mike Veeck, and Cleveland Indians General Manager, Mark Shapiro. When it turned to the Q&A portion of the session, I took a deep breath, steadied my voice and asked, "What is Major League Baseball doing to help women in baseball besides selling them a pink jersey?"

Mike Veeck began to talk about how he had signed Ila Borders to pitch for the St. Paul Saints, who play in the independent Northern League. (I had already known about Ila, as she had received huge media attention for being the only woman pitching in pro baseball.) As Veeck spoke, an idea crossed my mind. I had never really thought about it, partly because I had never seen it done. But sometimes inspiration comes when we least expect it.

After the panel, I waited for the others to finish talking to Veeck, and I got up the nerve to introduce myself.

"Hi, my name is Justine, and I want to coach for you."

Without missing a beat, he replied, "I want you to coach for me." He paused and then asked, "Who did Justine?"

I looked at him, puzzled. He clarified, "I mean, who sang the song 'Justine?'" I shrugged my shoulders. We only chatted for a little while longer, and he finished the conversation with, "Send me a resume and find out who sang 'Justine'."

I sent my resume to Veeck via email within twenty minutes of speaking to him. I was so excited. Earlier he had asked me who sang "Justine." I did my research, called him that night and left a message telling him The Righteous Brothers sang the song. Days went by—and nothing happened. I began to wonder if I had given him the right "Justine" song. Maybe there was a more famous one? I went on iTunes and saw over a dozen songs with my name in the title. I quickly realized he was thinking of the famous duet, the Righteous Brothers.

Worried I had lost my chance, I decided to take a creative leap. I downloaded ten or so "Justine" songs and burned them to a CD. I had my eleven-year-old daughter Jasmine draw on the CD to make it look like a baseball and mailed it to Veeck's office the next morning. Then I waited.

This time I didn't have to wait long. Veeck called me when he got the CD. He told me he was going to start looking around and see if the teams he was associated with would be interested in hiring the first woman to coach men's pro baseball. I was pumped!

I thought I had reached my dream earlier that year when I was an assistant coach for Springfield (MA) College but now the opportunity to coach professional baseball was both humbling and exhilarating. Part of me couldn't believe the possibility, but the other part was already picturing it.

After three interviews and four months of waiting, Brian Voelkle, the General Manager of the Brockton Rox from the CanAm League, called me. I was in the car with Jasmine after wrapping up meetings in New York City, settling in for the ten-hour drive to Cleveland to be with family for Passover. I held my breath as he spoke to me over the phone, and the next thing you know, Brian offered me the job … The Rox had decided to hire me as coach for the 2009 season!

Doing celebratory fist pumps in my seat, while driving, I remembered to...