Alyssa Nakken, the Giants’ head coach, is the league’s first female coach
For the first time ever, a female assistant coach, 31-year-old Nakken, served as the San Francisco Giants first base coach for a game on Tuesday.
An unexpected communication from the San Francisco Giants’ first base coaching staff sparked Alyssa Nakken into action in the batting cage.
To get ready for the game she immediately took off her sweatshirt and grabbed her No.92 jersey.
First female coach on field in regular season game a few minutes later, Nakken took over Tuesday night’s 13-2 win over San Diego.
“I think we’re all inspirations doing everything that we do on a day-to-day basis and I think, yes, this carries a little bit more weight because of the visibility, obviously there’s a historical nature to it,” she said. “But again, this is my job.”
After Antoan Richardson was removed from the game in the third inning, Nakken took over as the Giants’ first base coach.
As soon as Nakken was announced as Richardson’s replacement, Oracle Park’s audience gave her a hearty ovation and Eric Hosmer gave her a celebratory handshake.
Since our first base coach was fired and Nakken has been working with Antoan as a first base coach for the past few years, he stepped in to do the job that he was supposed to do: help the team and the staff.
Both the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame were prepared. Her helmet is on its way to Cooperstown, New York, where it will be enshrined.
While working with Richardson and others, San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler noted that Nakken had been “prepared for this moment”.
“So it’s not a foreign spot on the field for her. She does so many other things well that aren’t seen,” he said. “So it’s nice to see her kind of be right there in the spotlight and do it on the field.”
Nakken is a baserunning and outfield defensive assistant coach. For games, she sits near the dugout steps in an indoor batting cage, with a Giants jersey available in case she needs one.