Backed by White Sox Owner Bill Veeck and announcer Harry Caray, Mary Shane made history when she became the first regular female play-by-play announcer in Major League Baseball in 1977.
Shane, once a high school history and English teacher, had covered the Brewers for an all-news AM station in Milwaukee, when she first met Caray at County Stadium in ’76. Surprised to see a young woman in the press box, Caray invited Shane on-air for help with the White Sox broadcast.
“Suddenly, he handed me the microphone and asked if I wanted to do some play-by-play,” Shane told the Milwaukee Sentinel at the time.