Black women made it happen in 2020, and if you’ve been paying attention they’ve been making it happen for quite some time but not receiving the proper shine or credit.
Bianca Smith and the Boston Red Sox created a new history-making achievement last week when they announced that Smith was set to become a minor-league coach in their system, becoming, as per CBS Sports, “the first Black woman to hold a coaching job in any professional baseball organization affiliated with Major League Baseball.”
“She was a great candidate coming in,” said Red Sox vice president of player development Ben Crockett, who helped spearhead the hire. “She’s had some really interesting experiences and has been passionate about growing her skill set and development herself.”
Smith has the resume for the position. She played softball at Dartmouth College (2010 – 2012), was the director of baseball operations at Case Western Reserve (2013 – 2017), and was an assistant coach in 2018 at the University of Dallas. She also gained experience at the MLB level, interning for the Texas Rangers in their baseball operations department in 2017 and interning in the Cincinnati Reds baseball operations department a year later.
Over the last two years, she was the assistant baseball coach and hitting coordinator at Carroll University in Wisconsin and she has no plans to slow down anytime soo.
“I don’t want to limit myself and I want to go as I can,” said Smith in her introductory press conference last week. “I want to continue to challenge myself and right now, that [goal] is MLB manager. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. … As much as I love coaching, I want to be in that position. I want to learn as much as I can to be in that role.”
Smith’s hire was a perfect way to start a new year. One which continues the process of giving Black women their proper credit and just dues for their talents and accomplishments.
“I am recognizing that people are inspired by the story,” continued Smith. “I’ve had people reach out and say that I am not their role model and it’s kind of weird to think about to be honest. That wasn’t really my intention when I took the job to be honest, but I am happy if my story can inspire other women, other women of color, other people of color, really anybody. I don’t want to put limits on it.”
