Jessica Mendoza becomes first woman to call MLB game for ESPN

Travis Durkee

Jessica Mendoza becomes first woman to call MLB game for ESPN image

History was made at Monday night's game between the Cardinals and Diamondbacks, but you won’t find it in the box score.

Jessica Mendoza became the first female to serve as in in-game analyst during an MLB game broadcast by ESPN.

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A two-time Olympic medalist with the United States softball team, Mendoza called the game alongside Dave O’Brien and Dallas Braden while their usual third wheel, Aaron Boone, worked the Little League World Series.

 

Let's do this!!! First time in a MLB booth! Tune in 7pm pt ESPN2 #MLB #Dbacks #Cardinals

A photo posted by jessica mendoza (@jessmendoza2) on

Despite Monday being her first time in the booth at an MLB game, Mendoza is no stranger to ESPN’s baseball family after joining the “Baseball Tonight” crew in 2014. She also became the first female to call a College World Series game when she was on the network's crew in Omaha last year.

 Mendoza admitted to Allure.com that she felt pressure to not “screw up” during the broadcast, but also said she “loves challenges.”

“Being the first is going to be hard. I just want to keep pushing and progressing,” Mendoza said. “I think this is a sport where we can really challenge all of ourselves as baseball fans, as baseball players, even the casual viewers. It’s just good to think, 'What can we do that hasn’t been done?' I want to challenge the way people think and see where this takes us."

As expected, not all of the feedback Mendoza has received in her time at ESPN has been the most progressive or respectful, but she said that was expected.

"I have definitely heard everything good and bad you could hear from people, and it doesn’t bother me,” she said. “Because when it's something like a tweet that says, 'Women don’t know baseball, they shouldn’t talk about baseball,' it’s like, 'Okay, welcome to 2015. Where have you been for the last 20 years?'"

Travis Durkee