Suzyn Waldman — Thick-Skinned Baseball Commentator

I grew up as the daughter of two die-hard Yankees fans, so it was almost inevitable that I too would come to cheer for the Bronx Bombers. And since I was an only child, my dad had no choice but to pass his love of baseball down to me. When I was nine, he gave me a book of inspiring stories in the history of baseball, and it was then that I first learned of Suzyn Waldman.

Suzyn Waldman has worked as a sports reporter covering the Yankees since 1987, making her only the third woman to be a full-time baseball commentator. However with this achievement Suzyn has faced sexist criticism throughout her career. During her first season with the Yankees, she attempted to interview Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Bell, only to have him scream and curse at her in front of a group of reporters because he felt she shouldn’t have been allowed in the locker room. Newspapers and blogs in the New York area have also written that she is too emotional, with some still referring to her as a girl.

But Suzyn Waldman has endured and moved up with the Yankees, becoming a TV sports commentator, a broadcaster on the Yankee-owned channel YES, and now the co-commentator on every Yankees radio broadcast. She’s proven that you can be a woman knowledgeable about sports and that you can keep on doing what you love even in the male-dominated world of baseball.

-Miriam Musco

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