The story below is from our July/August 2019 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
Photo By Britt Ghiroli
Local Salem Red Sox boast first all-female announcing team in pro baseball.
The Salem Red Sox, a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, made history this season before a player stepped on the field. Suzie Cool and Melanie Newman became the first all-female broadcast duo in professional baseball when the team opened their season on April 4th. In the male-dominated field of baseball announcing, a woman in the press box is a rare sight, and the idea of a female tandem calling games was unimaginable even a decade ago.
“This industry is hard to break into, as a male or female,” says Cool, 26, a Pittsburgh product who grew up watching the Pirates and playing softball. “I just kept at it. If I didn’t get a job I wanted, I just thought ‘hey, I’ll get it next time’ and worked harder.”
Cool and Newman share a tireless work ethic, wearing multiple hats for the Sox organization, often pulling 15- or 16-hour days at the ballpark in addition to a grueling road schedule. “I’ve told people that I’ve never been more tired, or more happy in my job,” says Newman, 28, a Georgia native with more than 10 years of broadcasting experience who came to Salem this year from the AA Frisco Roughriders.
Sporting dusty baseball-themed Keds, Newman is a petite brunette whose rich, throaty voice defies her stature. While calling the play-by-play for the Sox Baseball Network, she has an encyclopedic knowledge of statistics, and effortlessly weaves in personal stories, gleaned from long bus rides with the team and her clubhouse friendships with players.
“It’s not the win-loss record that builds loyalty to a team,” says Newman. “I want to add that emotional value, to connect with listeners on more than just statistics.”
While calling the game on May 1st, Newman tells listeners about a player who just got engaged—and her face lights up with genuine happiness. It lights up again when the Sox convert on a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI single. “And your Sox pull ahead eight to one!” she says, fist pumping.
Outside of Cool and Newman, only six other women broadcast in professional baseball.
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