All good things come to those who stay the course.
Just look at the determination of 70 year old Gwen Goldman, rejected in her quest to be a Yankee bat girl in 1961. Here she is in Yankee Stadium last week living out her 60 year dream.
And, she looks in great shape.
Excerpted from The New York Times 6.29.2021
Rejected by the Yankees at age 10 because she was a girl, Gwen Goldman finally got her major league moment — six decades later.
Gwen Goldman has adored the Yankees for her entire life.
Her favorite player was the Hall of Fame outfielder Mickey Mantle. Her father used to take her to games as a girl, days she remembers now as a special time for the two of them to bond. When she was away at camp each summer, he would include clippings from The New York Times in his letters so she could stay up-to-date on her team.
Girls, he said, did not belong in the dugout.
“While we agree with you that girls are certainly as capable as boys, and no doubt would be an attractive addition on the playing field, I am sure you can understand that in a game dominated by men a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout,” Hamey wrote.
Even though she had been rejected 60 years ago, she said she never held it against the team. But she kept Hamey’s response on a bulletin board at her home in Connecticut for decades.
“It wasn’t what I wanted to see, but they wrote me a letter and I’ve always loved them,” she said, adding later, “But I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that 60 years later, Brian Cashman would make this become a reality.”
Lee's Perspective 