September 16, 1964: The 1st Female Broadcaster for an MLB Team

Betty Caywood interviews John O'Donoghue

(left) and Jim Gentile.

September 16, 1964: Betty Caywood is hired to provide color commentary on radio broadcasts of Kansas City Athletics games for the rest of the season. This makes her the 1st female broadcaster for a Major League Baseball team.

Born in Chicago in 1931, she grew up in Kansas City, and returned to the Chicago area to earn a degree in speech therapy from Northwestern University. She then worked as a weather reporter for a Chicago television station, where she was watched by A's owner Charlie Finley on his farm in northwestern Indiana.

She had also modeled, and taught speech and drama at a high school in Salina, Kansas, about 175 miles west of Kansas City. Divorced with 2 young children, she said modeling and broadcasting paid more than teaching.

Finley wasn't exactly progressive, but he'd do anything for good publicity (except spend more money). He hired her to do color commentary, alongside Monte Moore and George Bryson. "The idea is that putting a woman on the staff will appeal to the dolls," he told a newspaper reporter.

In her 1st game, the A's lost to the Boston Red Sox, 10-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Tony Conigliaro, the Sox' 19-year-old local phenom, hit 2 home runs. The Sox also got home runs from Bob Tillman and Dick Stuart, the 1st baseman so bad a fielder, he was nicknamed Doctor Strangeglove. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4.

By her own admission, she didn’t know much about baseball then. Her next game was 2 days later, with the A's playing the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. When the legendary Red Barber called her over during the game, he asked who was batting. She had no idea. He asked who he was by his number, which was 7. She did not know it was Mickey Mantle. Barber asked her what the batter was doing. “I said striking,” she later said. Red told her it was "swinging."

Because her job was so unusual for a woman, she even appeared as a mystery guest on the CBS show What’s My Line? that week.

She called the A's last 16 games of the season, in which they went 3-13, although none of it was her fault: They went 57-105 for the season. She was not rehired for 1965, and wouldn't have taken the job if she was. Not many women have entered baseball commentary since. She joked, "I was so bad, there were no more."

She soon met Jordan Bushman, a principle with Bushman Construction Company. They married, raised 2 more children, and were married for over 50 years. At one point, she said, she got an offer to host The Today Show. But that would have meant moving to New York City, where she did not like the look of schools and living conditions for her children. "Barbara Walters owes me her job," she said.

On August 16, 2008, Betty Caywood Bushman broadcast one more game, invited to join the team on radio station WHB, broadcasting the Kansas City T-Bones, of Kansas City, Kansas, in the independent Northern League. She lived until 2020.

On August 3, 1993, Gayle Gardner became the first woman to do televised play-by-play of an MLB game. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-4 in 10 innings at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. In 1997, Suzyn Waldman was hired as the 1st non-interim female broadcaster for an MLB team, joining the Yankees' radio team, providing color commentary alongside play-by-play announcer John Sterling. Through the 2022 season, she is still there.

UPDATE: In 2024, Jenny Cavnar was hired by the Oakland Athletics, as MLB's 1st female play-by-play announcer.

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September 16, 1964 was a Wednesday. Actress Molly Shannon, best known as a castmember of Saturday Night Live, was born.

These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels, 9-4 at Yankee Stadium. Jim Bouton, future author of Ball Four, was the winning pitcher. This was when he could still smoke them inside. Roger Maris hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Tracy Stallard, best known for giving up Maris' 61st home run of the 1961 season, may have had his best game: He went the distance for the win, pitched a 5-hit shutout, walked only 2, and struck out 10, outpitching Gaylord Perry.

George Altman went 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Willie Mays did not play. Willie McCovey went 0-for-3. Duke Snider, in one of his last games as an active player, and looking very odd in a Giants uniform, did not reach base as a pinch-hitter.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles. 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Camilo Pascual outpitched Wally Bunker. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run. Brooks Robinson went 4-for-4, and drove in the Orioles' only run.

* The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators, 3-1 and 3-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago White Sox outpitched the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 0-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Frank Robinson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Pete Rose went 1-for-5. Ernie Banks went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Ron Santo hit a home run.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron did not play. Joe Torre went 0-for-4. But Denis Menke, a prototypical good-field/no-hit 2nd baseman for the era, drove in all the Braves' runs with a home run. Lou Brock went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Houston Colt .45os beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Colt Stadium in Houston. The day before, the Phillies were 88-57, and led the National League by 6 games with 17 games to play. From this game onward, they went 4-13, and blew the Pennant. The next year, the Colts moved into the Astrodome, and renamed themselves the Houston Astros.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Vern Law was the winning pitcher, and helped his own cause with a home run. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-3 with a walk.