Five years after Major League Baseball made history with the first-ever all-female broadcast crew at a Baltimore Orioles game, women’s presence behind the mic continues to grow. A handful of women now serve as full-time commentators, and a growing number work as sideline reporters and analysts.
The Toronto Blue Jays are the latest MLB team to bring a woman into the broadcast booth. Madison Shipman last week made her debut as the Blue Jays’ color analyst and the team’s first female analyst for Sportsnet Network.
According to the Toronto Star, Shipman had previously commentated spring training games, and she contributed to both radio broadcasts and “Blue Jays Central”, a pre-game show.
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“I think she’s terrific,” Jays play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman previously told the Star. “She’s brought knowledge and confidence and opinions, and not everybody comes in and is willing to state their mind right away about how they feel about things. She’s done that very quickly, and she’s done it very well.”
Shipman was a standout softball player before she broke barriers in the MLB. Her career as a player took her to the University of Tennessee where she played shortstop and played in two Women’s College World Series. Shipman also won the Southeastern Conference player of the year award.
Her broadcasting career took off in 2018. After several years covering collegiate softball for ESPN, Shipman made the jump to Sportsnet in 2023.
