The New York Yankees recently announced Rachel Balkovec as manager of their Class A Lower affiliate, the Tampa Tarpons, making her the first woman to hold this position in organized professional baseball in the United States.
Balkovec, 34, was a hitting instructor for the Yankees’ Rookie division in the Florida Complex League. In total, she served 10 years as a coach and is the first instructor who has worked full time in a Major League franchise since taking that position in 2019.
Although it sounds like a hit (somewhat late by the way) to the existing glass ceiling for women, what we really need to monitor closely are the regulations and the monitoring of acts of gender-based violence perpetrated by multiple players.
Since 2015, in its rulebook, the Major League of Baseball (MLB) policy on these cases includes domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse, which is applicable –if it occurs– to Major League Baseball players. Leagues, Minor Leagues, coaches and personalities from the management body of the different teams.
If any of them is found guilty, the Commissioner’s Office may grant disciplinary measures, which may be immediate or postponed. The measures may fall both under the responsibility of the affected party’s team or by the commissioner, which includes a catalog of suspensions, as well as its derived appeal process by the affected party.
Although this instance has fulfilled punishments that have ended player careers, one fact is striking. Of 12 players involved from 2015 to 2019 for domestic violence, nine were Latino. Some processes were even taken to criminal courts.
This is aggravated in the Mexican Baseball League. One example is Sergio Mitre, a former player for the New York Yankees and the Florida Marlins, accused of the femicide of a one-year-old, 10-month-old girl, the daughter of his former partner. The trial against the player began last Monday, January 10, in Saltillo, Coahuila. Before it started there were reports (Process 01/09/2022) that alerted about alleged negligence of the authority, inconsistencies in the case and even irregularities in the autopsy performed on the little girl. The player had previously been suspended and reinstated despite his frequent legal troubles for violence.
But it’s just one more scandal. The Tecolotes also made headlines in the Mexican Baseball League by signing Luke Heimlich, a pitcher who confessed to having raped his niece when she was six years old.
Are they by any chance Latino? No. And not because it is an ethnic issue, but because the cases are representative of a problem of violence and impunity that plagues the region. Although a bias product of a tendency to criminalize according to the language spoken or the color of the skin cannot be ruled out either.
Education and asserting a life free of violence are the perfect shot against gender violence.
For You will be Aguilar Arriozola *
@saraiarriozola
*Doctor of Education and Master of Arts. Coordinator of the Department of Arts and Humanities of the Center for Research and Development of Bilingual Education UANL.
