June 3, 2017 – At age 13, a youth baseball coach told Justine Siegal, Class of 1993, she shouldn’t play baseball because she was a girl. That was the day she decided she would play baseball forever.
At 16 she was laughed at when she told a coach she wanted to be a college baseball coach. As upset as she was by his lack of respect for her ambition, she continued to focus on moving forward and that trajectory would impact the lives of thousands of girls around the country who now call themselves baseball players thanks to her.
Not only did Siegal play baseball and become a college coach, she has amassed a lineup of successes and accomplishments that looks like this: founder of the non-profit Baseball For All (which fosters, encourages, and provides opportunities for girls to participate in baseball) the first woman to throw batting practice for Major League Baseball; the first female coach at an MLB organization; one of USA Today’s “100 Most Powerful People in Baseball” (April 2017), and along the way she earned a doctorate in sport and exercise psychology.
“Still, today, 25 years later, we still have girls being told they can’t play baseball. To me that’s a social justice issue. We can’t just tell girls what they can do. We have to open the world for them, smash gender types, and stereotypes because that’s the most healthy thing for both boys and girls.”
It wasn’t until Siegal enrolled at Brewster in 1990 that she encountered the first coach who stood up for her. “I’m who I’m today because of Brewster,” she said. “I have accomplished so many firsts from being the first woman to throw batting practice to a major league team to the first woman to coach at an MLB organization and none of that would have been possible if I hadn’t come to Brewster. Mr. Gorrill is the first coach who ever stopped someone from making fun of me.”
She went on to thank numerous former Brewster coaches and teachers who played a role in helping her achieve her goals: Bruce Gorrill and Shadow Gorrill, both of whom were present; the late Dick Faye, “He was my debate team coach. I think he would be shocked to know that corporations now pay me to come speak. I was junior debate team B, but he believed in me and we spent a lot of time together and, due to debate team, I learned how to speak publicly as well as learn how to construct an argument.”
She continued, acknowledging retiring Academic Dean and former English teacher Marilyn Shea: “Of any class I took, the one that prepared me for college that was it. The class taught me how to read critically, how to write, how to pay attention to details.”
Ms. Kathleen Shean, who helped her through study halls and celebrated her 16th birthday with her “was the mother I always wanted”.
She thanked the Rex and Lynn Snyder for taking her to her first Red Sox game. It was Rex who suggested that she should go after her goal of playing college baseball and thus she chose her college based on being able to play baseball there.
She also thanked her father, in attendance, for never asking her to play softball.
Along with the individuals who helped mold Siegal into a confident young woman who could change the world, she recalled her astonishment during junior year at learning she was going to receive an award at an upcoming ceremony and the impact of that award. “It was for the member of the junior class who shows the most integrity and self-reliance and it was voted upon by my teachers. For me that was really meaningful that the teachers saw who I was trying to be. I was painfully shy. I never spoke but I was able to speak to the entire school because I felt like I could be a leader … I felt empowered here and it was because of the teachers. … and I was vice president of my junior class and that is done by votes where the students decide on things like integrity and trustworthiness and they voted me in. Even though I wasn’t really popular, I knew I was respected and that made me feel incredible.
“… Going from somewhere where I was failing my ninth grade to coming here where my junior year I was a member of the National Honor Society. That’s Brewster. That’s the teachers. All of these things are only possible because of the teachers here.”
She concluded, “For me it’s an honor to make history but it’s more important to build a better future. And I’ve dedicated my life in social justice through baseball and to helping our youth, and I know that the teachers here and the administration have done the same thing and so I’m very honored to receive this award but if it’s okay with you, I’d like to call it our award because I couldn’t be here without you.”
