Beth Greenwood, a USAWNT trek, a Catcher's life in Women's Baseball,

• USAWNT Baseball Player – Beth Greenwood - Women in Baseball
• Player Development Coach 
• Won the Championship with the Comets at the AmericanGirlsBaseball.org
• Path to the USAWNT Baseball team
• Making the 40 player team with Ila Borders, Meggie Meidlinger, Tamara Holmes
• Competition to make it to the final roster becomes more challenging year after year
• Catchers the Managers of tomorrow
• Al Lopez, historic catcher/manager at Tampa Baseball Museum
• Catchers like Veronica Alvarez who took the tough job when others deferred in youth baseball
• Facing the hard throwing pitchers
• Making adjustments – getting tighter and tighter to the plate 
• Beth working with Player Development in Phillies program / Jersey Shore Blue Claws
• What is Player Development – Helping Players to advance to the big leagues through game planning, nutrition, 
• Excitement for development of a Women’s Professional Baseball League 
• Professional League will give women a full-time job to focus on being an athlete and will increase the level of play 
• Many women who play baseball need an alternate source for income. Some who have become architects, coaches & firefighters like Veronica Alvarez, Tamara Holmes, Valerie Perez
• Womens Professional Baseball League, Kat Williams & Leslie Heaphy 
• Jason Varitek of Boston Red Sox was Beth’s baseball favorite catcher as a youngster
• Later Beth later looked to USAWNT players for favorite players
• Rachel Balkovec – wore a lot of hats to advance in baseball strength coach, batting coach, manager of Tampa Tarpons, now director of Player Development for the Marlins
• While working with the Threshers, a Phillies affiliate Beth met Rachel Balkovec
• Benches emptied between Threshers & Tarpons – a lot of emotion
• Baseball Travel what a calendar year looks like
• Beth is playing at Roy Hobbs tournament this week in Fort Myers Florida
• A fly on the wall in the 40’s & 50’s listen to AAGPBL players
• Maybelle Blair, Shirley Burkovich are some of the AAGPBL legends that Beth has met
• Future of Women’s Professional Baseball League
• Look into the future with Michael Goodmon toward a Women’s League
• Hope that all Women’s baseball groups can come together to make a league happen
• Beth remembers playing in 2011 with Baseball for All girls teams & tournament
• Greenwood’s performance with the Comets at AGB, Durham
• Beth recounts 7th inning of tournament Bases loaded, full count, payoff pitch, foul tip into Beth’s glove 
• Roy Hobbs tournament this weekend in Fort Myers - https://royhobbs.com/world-series/schedules/women-team

References:
Beth catches for the Comets in this championship game - https://www.mlb.com/video/agb-peaches-vs-agb-comets-138730  - check out at 2:23 timestamp for top of 7th.
Third Annual All-American Women’s Baseball Classic Results - https://americangirlsbaseball.org/third-annual-all-american-womens-baseball-classic/ 

Mark is on BlueSky at @baseballbizondeck.bsky.social & and at  http://www.baseballbizondeck.com

Special thanks to XTaKeRuX for the music “Rocking Forward"

#WIBW #AAGPBL 

Transcript

Beth Greenwood USAWNT 263 BaseballBiz

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to baseball business on deck. I am Mark Carbett, your host. And with me today, I have the great honor of having the great Beth Greenwood. With me here today. And my goodness, most of you might know by now,  ,,I am absolutely an advocate for women's baseball.

[00:00:19] Mark Corbett: And that means in all forms, that means whether you're playing on a women's team, if you're a woman who's playing on a co ed team, if you're playing college, you're playing little league. If a woman or a girl wants to play tag on it, let's make it happen. That's, that's my mindset. So Beth, now that I've said everything about me, how are you doing today?

[00:00:37] Beth Greenwood: Doing pretty good. Yeah. Getting ready for a women's baseball tournament down here in Florida. Like you said, just another, another part of the game. 

[00:00:43] Mark Corbett: So what's the tournament? What's it about? Who's, who's sponsoring it? 

[00:00:46] Beth Greenwood: So this tournament is,  ,the Roy Hobbs tournament. So it's put on,  ,I know they have a lot of other men's events that they put on.

[00:00:53] Beth Greenwood:  ,,so this is just,  ,I don't know, growing up, once you kind of age out a lot of the youth side of girls baseball, you have to find other ways to play. And so there's a couple of major women's baseball tournaments that happened in the country. And so this is one of them. I'm not. Quite sure how many teams are here this year, but it's a lot of teams from the U.

[00:01:09] Beth Greenwood: S. and also Canada that come down here and compete,  ,and kind of try to escape the cold a little bit during the later months in the fall. 

[00:01:17] Mark Corbett: It's funny you say that because I was working at the museum today and one of the guests was from New Hampshire. He said, I came down here to get, get away from the cold.

[00:01:25] Mark Corbett: I said, I think I'll be talking to somebody from that area too. Yeah. Oh, Yeah. Well, we're glad you're here and you know, you've got a great story to tell because I'm thinking as a catcher and coming up through the ranks and doing all the things you've done, I, I like to hit some of that because can you hear me?

[00:01:44] Mark Corbett: Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. Pardon me. Because you have been, you played with the USA women's national team and playing up here, I guess this year in Thunder Bay, Ontario. But,  ,,my goodness. Gosh, I told some of the other folks who've been on here, like Veronica Alvarez and Meggie Meidlinger, I said, you guys are the freaking Avengers, okay?

[00:02:10] Mark Corbett: The Avengers of women's baseball. And the thing of it is, there is not an Olympic team for baseball for women, but if there was, You guys would be it. And you're the, you're the professionals. You're the consummate professionals. So I am very grateful to be able to have the opportunity to watch you all, whether it was up there in thunder Bay, I didn't get to go there, but I was being able to watch it online and then also seeing you in some of the other things you've done.

[00:02:36] Mark Corbett:, you were there with the all American girls baseball in,  ,,in Durham. And that looks like quite an event. 

[00:02:43] Beth Greenwood: Yeah. Yeah. That was quite an event. I was actually on my team one for the first time this year. So that was pretty exciting. Got to catch the championship game. So that was pretty cool. Go Comets.

[00:02:51] Beth Greenwood: Yeah. Go Comets. It was,  ,,this year they,  ,Suzepe has been doing a lot of work to get that event kind of up and going the last couple of years, but this year they were able to partner with,  ,the owners of the Durham Bulls and really, you know, bring some other people in to get it together. And it was, it was a really like.

[00:03:09] Beth Greenwood: Amazing event. I mean, it was streamed on MLB. com and it's pretty special, you know, where it's not, I feel like a lot of times with women events, even when they're streamed, it would be some random link and you'd have to go do some digging to try to find, to watch it. So it was pretty special that it was something that was easily accessible and free for people to watch and see high level quality baseball.

[00:03:30] Mark Corbett: Yeah, you know, that's it. Because I know having the backing for the media to coverage and something where you can't see it. That's not always there in some of the tournaments. So the ability for that. I was really glad to see that. I know if I went to the all the all girls baseball website, they have actually links.

[00:03:52] Mark Corbett: To the video for each one of the games. And that'll take you to an MLB film room where you can see it from there. And that's, it's very nice, very polished, you know, I know in past years, didn't necessarily have announcers. They had announcers for the game. So you know, who's playing, you know, that, that helps, but,  ,,it adds a little excitement to the game.

[00:04:13] Mark Corbett: So I was really glad to see that. And, and I heard they did it up real well, as far as taking care of the players in Durham also this year. 

[00:04:20] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, it was, it was pretty special.  ,so leading up to this, like for this past season, I was a development coach in high A for the Phillies minor league team. And so I've, I know what that side of it looks like.

[00:04:31] Beth Greenwood: And when I say that we were treated, you know, the same way that those players were treated like professionals, it was pretty special from the second we got there to the moment we left, like the Durham Bulls and everyone else who was involved with running that event, really treated like, Treated us, you know, the same,  ,access to the facility and, you know, good spread and great hotel and stuff like that.

[00:04:49] Beth Greenwood: Little things that matter,  ,that make you feel,  ,and are treated like the professionals that we're trying to make, you know, trying to be in create eventually. 

[00:04:58] Mark Corbett: Right. I mean, exactly. It to be treated with respect and be honored for the professional that you are because people, you know, a lot of us like to play a game, but if you want to pay at the level that Beth Greenwood is doing and some of those other women, it takes a commitment above and beyond.

[00:05:14] Mark Corbett: And I'm looked across your career. I was like, my gosh, some of the stuff I read, Beth, it's like you had to be resilient. I mean, a lot of us, Are told no, you know, sometimes in life and, and some people just turn around and we'll say, Oh, dang on. Well, I guess that's it, but you're resilient. You've, you came back, was it four times with, with one of the,  ,,was it the national team or, 

[00:05:35] Beth Greenwood: yeah, so I first started for the national team in 2018.

[00:05:39] Beth Greenwood: I got top, 2018.  ,but it missed the top 20 cut and then continued to miss the top 20 cut.  ,until the 2023 roster, which was frustrating COVID got in the way of things, but it was a lot of, you know, I thought 2022 was, it was a hard year. Like I really thought going into that room with the coaches, cause the way they do it, there'll be an open tryout typically, and then you'll have your top 40 training where you train for additional period of time.

[00:06:04] Beth Greenwood: And then, you know, the coaches make their decisions and then they bring you in one by one and you kind of go in the room with all the coaches and it's nerve wracking and you're like, Oh my God, like, Let's find out like, especially because there isn't a professionally yet and there isn't an Olympic team.

[00:06:17] Beth Greenwood: this is the highest level that women can play at. And so you go into that room really nervous. I'm 20, 22. I really thought, you know, I had, I had. You know, broke that barrier and gotten in. And so it was, it was a lot, but kind of being crushed and being able to continue to figure out how to continue to get better as myself, like as a person and a player, and finally be able to crack that,  ,roster in 2023 and then continue that until in 22,  ,,2024.

[00:06:43] Beth Greenwood: Sorry. So. Yeah, it's pretty exciting. 

[00:06:46] Mark Corbett: Well, you know, with that said, figuring out how to crack it because I looked at that 2018,  ,,I guess the 40 players coming up and there's you, there's some of the folks who've been there for a while and done well, like Tamara Holmes.  ,,let's see, I think Meggie Meidlinger was there.

[00:07:01] Mark Corbett: And then a lady who Meggie actually introduced me to as far as she said, a person who inspired her and that was Island Borders. And I look, man, I got, I got to talk with her. I, I'd read her book recently and it just knocked me down. And you know, the, the challenges that a player has to go through and I know she's had them,  ,,she's been playing professionally and with a bit of a rough neck crowd, some ofhem from the stories she tells, but, but.

[00:07:32] Mark Corbett: But, you know, she wanted to play the game. It was the most important thing to her. And, you know, she, she did what it took to stay there. So I could congratulate you on that. And I'm thinking, look at those 40 women. I think, my gosh, you know, it had to be hard for Veronica Alvarez to make some calls on some of those players because, you know, you, you look across them and there's such a supremacy of the game that you all have.

[00:07:56] Mark Corbett: It's like, you almost have to split hairs, I would think to say, you know, who's going to be on that team. Yeah. But 

[00:08:02] Beth Greenwood: I think it's harder every year too. I think that the talent pool, especially with,  ,,different organizations like, you know, MLB develops supporting and baseball for all, like really helping bring the youth talent level,  ,higher.

[00:08:14] Beth Greenwood: Some of those kids are starting to age up and be able to compete and try out for the women's national team. And so I think it's probably getting harder for that coaching staff year after year, which is exciting because that means that the competition is getting better and we're just elevating the game overall.

[00:08:28] Mark Corbett: Kudos again on that. Let's, let's actually get into the game a little bit. Because you're a, you're a catcher for the team, correct? Yeah. 

[00:08:35] Beth Greenwood: Yeah. 

[00:08:35] Mark Corbett: I mean, I look at that. I always wonder about a catcher. I think I see a catcher. I'm always thinking, Hmm, is that a manager for tomorrow? Because they see more of the game than anybody.

[00:08:44] Mark Corbett: And you, you look even across MLB and some of the managers over time, and you certainly see some that you say, Oh, that guy's a catcher. That guy's a catcher. And I mentioned the Tampa Baseball Museum I work at, it's in the house of Al Lopez, and he was a, one of the first Tampanians ever into Major League Baseball Hall of Famer as well, but the thing of it is he was a catcher, and then he was a manager for the White Sox, and also a manager for the Cleveland Indians.

[00:09:12] Mark Corbett: And. I asked kids when they come in, what, what,  ,,what position they play. They say, catcher, I have a fun time with them because I tell them, you know, you're the one that gets to make the calls. You're the one signaling the pitcher what that next pitch should be like. And so, I mean, that has to be an exciting role in the game that you're playing.

[00:09:30] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, I mean, this,  ,I've, I've been catching since I was eight years old. So it's something that I fell in love with pretty early on and stuck with. But for me, I've, I always loved because I just felt like you had, no one gets to see the field the way you get to see the field and you're kind of like the quarterback of the team.

[00:09:45] Beth Greenwood: And Obviously, you know, we have to take care of our pitchers and make sure that they're able to perform their best, but like we're managing that. So we're managing a lot of different things going on and managing a running game and, you know, pitch calling and this, that, and the other. And so it's pretty exciting.

[00:10:00] Beth Greenwood: And it's,  ,it was my favorite part.  ,Just growing up too, especially with the guys because it's the in my opinion, obviously I'm biased But it's the toughest position you're getting beat up like heck back there blocking and so It was kind of some type of position where it's like you prove you can hold your own there like You can hold your own anywhere.

[00:10:18] Beth Greenwood: So 

[00:10:18] Mark Corbett: respect respect for the catcher kid. 

[00:10:21] Beth Greenwood: That's like yeah No one else wants to do it. 

[00:10:23] Mark Corbett: Well, that's you look at that and it's like Good gravy, man. Yeah. Who's, who's going to say, yes, me, please, me, please. You know, that's, I think Veronica said that's how she actually got to play because nobody else wanted to do it.

[00:10:35] Beth Greenwood: Well, that's what happened to me. That's why I started catching when I was eight years old, I had a coach,  ,,at that point, only two girls in the town still played baseball. And,  ,,even then our coach didn't think that we girls should be playing baseball. So we didn't get to play that much. And we had one boy on the team who threw really hard.

[00:10:48] Beth Greenwood: So none of the other boys wanted to catch for him. So I was like, okay, actually, I just want to play. And that's how I started catching it. And I never looked back from that. 

[00:10:55] Mark Corbett: Wow. Let me ask you as a catcher. I mean, you have to have a level of confidence because of what can be coming your way, you know, whether it be speed or,  ,,something bouncing off of the plate and up into a catcher's mask and you've got, there's you, there's that batter and there's umpire.

[00:11:14] Mark Corbett: I always feel like the catcher is almost like in a baseball sandwich with all of that, but, and still able to manage it. And. It always amazes me sometimes when I'm watching the MLB game, and I see it doesn't happen often, the catcher interference. I thought, yeah, how could you not have that not happen more often?

[00:11:32] Mark Corbett: It's like, you're all as compact little place and you're trying to make sure you control it. So, when that ball is coming in, you know, you being able to control it, so that it's not going back and be able to have somebody run in or run out.  ,,run from third or something. So that's, I have a, what what's the challenge there for you?

[00:11:48] Mark Corbett: Is there anything special you see as a catcher? 

[00:11:51] Beth Greenwood: Well, like you're explaining, I feel like as a catcher you're trying to do everything and at one time, and so trying to manage all that can be a lot at times. Like you said, catcher interference doesn't happen very often, but when it does,  ,like this is one thing I talk about, the guys I would coach this year is we're working on being tighter and tighter to the plate because the tighter we get to the plate, the more things are, we're able to, you know.

[00:12:13] Beth Greenwood: Get to that breaking pitch before it breaks off too much, make it and present it a little bit differently than we would be for too far back. And so I think there's more benefits to receiving,  ,when we make those adjustments, but obviously, you know, the one time we're going to enter, there's an interference, everyone's like, Oh, what are we doing?

[00:12:29] Beth Greenwood: Like, you know, we're always the first to blame.  ,but we have to wear it sometimes. And so it was being that guy of knowing that it's not always your fault, but you might have to take the blame.  ,and that's okay.  ,yeah. 

[00:12:44] Mark Corbett: You mentioned that you're doing a player development. Let's see, what is that? With the,  ,,

[00:12:49] Beth Greenwood: yeah, I just finished,  ,this past season with the Phillies,  ,as a, as a, yeah.

[00:12:56] Beth Greenwood: Yeah. I 

[00:12:56] Mark Corbett: love that name. Jersey shore blue cloths, but 

[00:12:58] Beth Greenwood: yeah. 

[00:13:00] Mark Corbett: Okay. I've got to ask you. I mean, I see like, oh, we had a,  ,,Rachel Balcovex. She was down here and she was managing the Tampa tarpons, which was the,  ,Lower A league, if you will, for the Yankees. And I got to go over and watch a few games while she was managing.

[00:13:17] Mark Corbett: Then she leaves as manager to go for the Marlins and I hear she's doing player development. And Beth, I gotta say, I keep hearing that phrase, and I have no freaking idea what player development means. What, what does that encompass? 

[00:13:33] Beth Greenwood: So, for my position in particular, or just in general? Let's do 

[00:13:37] Mark Corbett: general, if you want, then we can come back to that.

[00:13:39] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, so in general, every single minor league team, or every single, Organization is going to have a player development system for their minor league teams. So that's basically all encompassing training player plans. How are we going to get this player to the big leagues? And so it's everything involved in that.

[00:13:56] Beth Greenwood: So it's actual coaching, skill works drills.  ,but that's also nutrition, weightlifting,  ,,data technology, how it's everything involved in like how we can develop a player and. Eventually, hopefully get them to the big leagues. So that's what player development is essentially is every single resource that and tool that is used to make these kids as good as possible.

[00:14:18] Beth Greenwood: And when I say kids, I mean, kids, some of these players that are coming up, especially from the DR or Venezuela. They're quite young. And so it's. You know, not only developing them as players, but also developing them as people.  ,and then me specifically this past year as a development coach, I had a focus working with catchers.

[00:14:37] Beth Greenwood:  ,however, I was kind of the support and coach that was helping all the other coaches, whether it was on field, in the cages, game planning, this and that. It was picking up wherever I could help everyone else with the carrying the load. So, 

[00:14:49] Mark Corbett: wow, that's, that's exciting. Would you see yourself? In the future, taking an administrative role or pardon me, our coaching or managerial position.

[00:15:00] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, I think right now, so I'm 25 right now, so I'm trying to figure out, you know, everyone, everyone wants to know like what's, you know, what do you want to be when you, you know, grow up.  ,but I think for me, I don't necessarily dream of, you know, coaching the big leagues, something that I, for me, I really hope that and really am excited for the potential of a women's professional league.

[00:15:21] Beth Greenwood: Like I really, you know, Dream of being a manager or GM for a team in the women's professional league after I'm able to have my own stint of my playing career. So that's what I hope to, that's what I hope to do.  ,but I definitely this past year as a development coach with the Phillies and my fellowship leading up into that showed me that I really enjoy being on field and interacting with players and just helping be able to grow, grow the game.

[00:15:44] Beth Greenwood: So that's where I'm, I'm hoping to be, but I really. I'm hopeful that this could continue on the women's side and that I can transfer the skills I've learned thus far and into helping launch and support the women's league. So 

[00:15:58] Mark Corbett: I'm really looking forward to seeing how that for me, I'm really looking forward to see how that's going to develop because one, I know that Sue's already put together a lot with the all Americans girls baseball.

[00:16:07] Mark Corbett: And now that the Durham bulls, I guess the owner of Goodman is,  ,,kind of Put that under his feather. So I haven't really seen yet how that's going to sync necessarily with, with,  ,,some of the things baseball for all is doing.  ,I'm hoping there's actually going to, there's not a duplication of resources.

[00:16:26] Mark Corbett: There's a way to find to make that the best. I feel like,  ,,again, I know I'm prejudiced because I know Sue and I've been watching the For the last three years, all American girls baseball, a classic, but that the level of talent that's been there, you know, pardon me. We're not just talking about walk ons.

[00:16:43] Mark Corbett: We're not talking about somebody who's on a kid's league somewhere. We're talking about professional levels. And because when I look out there, I'm just here just for grins and giggles. I'll bring it up and see. All right. Forgive me. I apologize. The share the screen Mark. Be nice you do that. You're going to talk about something.

[00:17:07] Mark Corbett: Don't show it to Beth. Be a bit of a dog. All right. Okay. Now, for instance, you know, I'm, I'm looking here at, at the,  ,,scorecard or basically the stats for the, the last game for the, when you guys won the championship there,  ,,in Durham. So the comm eight to five, and I go down that list and I'm like, gosh, I see Remy Sharber.

[00:17:31] Mark Corbett: I see you,  ,,names I can't. Jimmy, yeah, there you go. Yeah. And one name after another, each one of these, you know, and how many of them either playing with the U. S. or another country, you know, have made it to the World Cup. And to me, when I look at those teams for that America Girls Baseball, I think, my gosh, this, this is no joke.

[00:17:55] Mark Corbett: This is such, there's, there's a league right here right now. And what does it take to take these women, these teams to the next level? And I don't know that if there's some way that can bring that together or whatnot, but it just seems with the. Organization and the talent that has come to this over the last three years.

[00:18:18] Mark Corbett: There should be a way to, I don't know, take advantage of it's probably the wrong word, but, you know, find, find something here that's going to make sense. Does that sound right? 

[00:18:29] Beth Greenwood: Yeah. And I think like something that's important to note too, is that all of these women who have, whether they're playing for the national team, for team USA, for team Canada, Team Puerto Rico, wherever it may be, and also playing, we have a lot of women who, not only in addition to that, have also played elite Division 1 softballs,  ,and so on and so forth.

[00:18:49] Beth Greenwood: So you have a lot of amazing athletes who have done this without being able to like, do this as a profession.  ,I have a job, other, Meggie is an architect. Like, You know what I mean? So people have found ways to be elite athletes and still have to do these other things. So I think,  ,when there is the creation of what was personally being able to have the opportunity to really focus on being a professional athlete and not having to be a professional athlete and, you know, 5 other things.

[00:19:16] Beth Greenwood: I think you're going to continue to see this. Level of play continue to elevate. 

[00:19:22] Mark Corbett: Well, I think you're right. I mean, because we know, I know a lot of times what the, the athletes, the women athletes are coming to these things, their hotel and their meals travel is taken care of, but not necessarily being paid.

[00:19:36] Mark Corbett: And I know you mentioned architect because I think of Megan Meidlinger. 

[00:19:40] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, 

[00:19:41] Mark Corbett: she's an architect. And then,  ,,Veronica, I don't know if she's still doing it now, but she's got a job with the A's. But I mean, also she was a firefighter. 

[00:19:50] Beth Greenwood: Firefighter. Some of my other teammates were firefighters. Holmesy is a firefighter.

[00:19:55] Beth Greenwood: Valerie Perez is our shortstop firefighter.  ,Denae Benitez, our catcher, she's working on being a firefighter right now, so it's just everyone, so that's a common one, but,  ,yeah, so we've, you know, found ways to figure it out,  ,and definitely being able to have events where everything is covered makes it possible.

[00:20:16] Beth Greenwood: However, that next step is being able to, I think where you're going to see a huge jump in the, cause level of play is already high. So being able to see what that looks like when this is everyone's full time job, I think would be pretty special. 

[00:20:28] Mark Corbett: Well, I'm looking forward to that time because I mean, to see a talent like yours, it shouldn't be squandered.

[00:20:32] Mark Corbett: And I mean, I'm glad this is the first year I saw what the,  ,,all American girls baseball classic that you all were able to have. Like you said, those shows broadcast, you know, they would, they did that through Durham and. I love it. That's there. It's on the field, MLB film room. I'll put some links at the end of this.

[00:20:52] Mark Corbett: And those are the sort of things where you can continually put it in front of people and remind them about this game. Cause a lot of folks are saying, 

[00:20:59] Beth Greenwood: well, didn't they do that? Like in the forties or fifties? I don't know when they're a women's team, but back then it's 

[00:21:04] Mark Corbett: yes, sir. And open your eyes. There's things that actually been happening since then, but Oh, gosh, I gotta tell you, Beth.

[00:21:13] Mark Corbett: I'm sorry. I tend to go on sometimes, but it's I'm just so excited about the prospect of a of a women's professional baseball, baseball league. And I know from everything from,  ,,international women's baseball, the,  ,,Groups that I can't think of her name right now. Leslie, he, he, 

[00:21:30] Beth Greenwood: Kat Williams and Leslie.

[00:21:32] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, 

[00:21:32] Mark Corbett: exactly. What they do, you know, what Sue does,  ,,what Justine's doing. And I just hope to see all those things coalesce together so that they're strengthened and can make a, make it happen sooner. Make it happen better. Alrighty. Well, I've been going on, on, like I said, always here and see what else I had on here.

[00:21:52] Mark Corbett: Oh, I wanted to ask you, did you have a player that you looked at as you were growing up saying, you know, that's the kind of catcher I want to be or that's, did you have any favorites? 

[00:22:01] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, well, I mean, so I grew up a Red Sox fan.  ,and I grew up in the early 2000s. So I looked up a lot at that time, like Jason Veritech was my favorite catcher.

[00:22:11] Beth Greenwood:  ,I think. You know, as I continue to get older,  ,there was less, like, specific players that I, like, looked up to because it's hard when you don't have someone who kind of looks like you to, like, look at that.  ,so I started looking towards people, you know, on the national team who I. Used to look up to and then became teammates with and there became my coach and stuff like that, you know, people like Veronica and Malika and Anna and Meggie.

[00:22:37] Beth Greenwood: So,  ,but yeah, when I was really young,  ,,I used to be like obsessed with Jason Veritas. 

[00:22:45] Mark Corbett: It's, it's always great to have somebody there to just, inspires you or excites you about it. But it's, it's interesting you to talk about some of the other players on the USA team. And I remember years ago when I was in radio and I was a big fan of a couple of, you know, DJs announcers back then.

[00:23:03] Mark Corbett: And then I got involved with radio and then I found myself working side by side with them. And it was like, Ooh, this is so cool. Oh, and they're real people too. Okay. But the, the thing of it was, you know, You didn't melt it from you became part of what that whole machine of the USA women's national team is.

[00:23:22] Mark Corbett: So that's just amazing. Trying to think there was other things that I asked you about the,  ,,I asked you about as far as player development, because like I said, that's always been something like, it just sounds so generic. I was never, and I thought, and I knew, you know, You know, Rachel Balkovec, if they put that fire in, she's with the Marlins and I know what I had read up on her long before where she had,  ,,she'd been like a strength coach, I think, with the Yankees, you know, and then she was, 

[00:23:50] Beth Greenwood:  ,,and then the heading coach and then the manager.

[00:23:52] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, she's, she's worn a lot of hats to get to where she's at and she's made sure that she was qualified in every single area possible,  ,to leave no doubt.  ,but yeah, it was, I didn't realize because I met her,  ,,pretty early on when I became a fellow with the Phillies.  ,,actually I was,  ,,helping out with the Threshers in Clearwater and they were playing against the Tarpons,  , ,,in Clearwater and so I met her.

[00:24:18] Beth Greenwood: And I at that time, which he was managing, I had no idea that she was interested in front office stuff. So I was excited for that move for her is a pretty big promotion.  ,becoming the director of player development is pretty big deal. So,  ,it's pretty exciting and exciting to see what else she continues to do on that side.

[00:24:35] Mark Corbett: Okay. I got to tell you, my wife, Karen and I, we went to watch a Threshers Tarpons game over there, George Steinbrenner. 

[00:24:44] Beth Greenwood: Oh really? 

[00:24:45] Mark Corbett: And yeah, and it must have been a rough week because there was a hit by a pitch and both, I dunno if you were there that day, but both benches emptied out and it took, okay. 

[00:24:54] Beth Greenwood: Yeah.

[00:24:55] Mark Corbett: were you there? 

[00:24:56] Beth Greenwood: I wasn't there. I was working in our complex that day.  ,but I. Have seen the video many a times,  ,and have rewatched some of the videos.  ,

[00:25:07] Mark Corbett: a 

[00:25:09] Beth Greenwood: lot of emotion, a lot of emotion,  ,,on that, that whole week meeting up to it. There was a lot of emotion between the two teams. I think you have two organizations that are very  ,passionate and get very fired up,  ,about protecting their teammates and protecting their team.

[00:25:23] Beth Greenwood: So I think there was a lot of that. 

[00:25:25] Mark Corbett: Oh, you know, and, and then some of that comes with youth and youth and passion and probably even more competitiveness in some ways at that, at that level. But, you know, I, I, I said, wait a minute, look over secure. And you realize that this level, they've only got two umpires out there and they're going to try to manage and pull this apart.

[00:25:43] Mark Corbett: You know, so I said, either sit back for 20 minutes or they're going to call the game, we'll figure it out. But it it's to me, minor league ball is some of the most exciting ball out there, because I think the competitive level, you know, trying to make it to the show, you know, working the way up. That energy and, and trying to find their own talent and ability to deliver it.

[00:26:06] Mark Corbett: So I admire what you're doing is do have done with the Phillies, but,  ,,wow. Oh, goodness gracious. I mean, I was sitting here thinking you were just telling me about the term that you're in,  ,, ,,yeah. In Fort Myers, Florida this week. Now I'm keeps thinking to myself, I thought if I was Beth, what would my calendar look like?

[00:26:29] Mark Corbett: I mean, she's been to thunder Bay, Ontario, you know, she, she was at Durham.  ,,there's probably two or three other ones. I can't think of that you were doing and you and your rest of your crew. It's like, my gosh, you got those,  ,,little special miles built up with your airlines that you. 

[00:26:47] Beth Greenwood: I know, and I make the joke that basically since I finished college, I haven't had like a home where I've stayed for very long,  ,bouncing around all the time.

[00:26:54] Beth Greenwood:  ,and then right now I'm focused on figuring out what I'm going to be doing for next season, looking for other coaching opportunities and who knows where that's going to take me. So. 

[00:27:04] Mark Corbett: Well, I hope you find it. I think your talent, you know, comes through. I think what you've achieved comes through. People realize that.

[00:27:10] Mark Corbett: So I'm real excited about that. Let's see. Okay. The other question I have sometimes, and that is. If you could speak to any baseball player living or dead, who's not, not in your circle right now, who would you like to have a conversation with? 

[00:27:28] Beth Greenwood: Oh, that's a good question. That's a tough one. Um,

[00:27:37] Beth Greenwood: I don't even know. I think that for me, Maybe it's not, I don't have like one specific person in mind, but I, and I've met some of these women, but for me, I'm passionate about baseball in general.  ,and like men's players, but you can be talking about women's baseball, I could go on forever. Like what was baseball?

[00:27:57] Beth Greenwood: I'm like,  ,so beyond like passionate about it. So I think for me, I've, I've had the pleasure of meeting some of these women, but I think, you know, just to be a fly on the wall back in the 1940s and fifties, just to meet some of those women and, you know, go to some of those clubs and That they would used to go to and be around that.

[00:28:15] Beth Greenwood: I think that would be, I, that would be like my pick. I don't have like one specific person.  ,I have had the few, I have had the privilege to meet some of the women who did play back then.  ,and have some, you know, connections with a few of them.  ,Mabel Blair is a classic one that everyone knows.  ,she, I don't know how she's in her night, well into her nineties and she flies around, she flies around more than me for sure.

[00:28:37] Beth Greenwood: She is west coast, east coast. She is everywhere.  ,but you know, Shirley Berkovich was a big one that I was able to kind of connect with when I was younger. And so I think being able to have even more of a connection to some of those women would be pretty special. 

[00:28:53] Mark Corbett: That's, that's a really good, well thought out that response because, you know, you're looking at the Titans at the beginning of this, you know, in a sense.

[00:29:03] Mark Corbett: I mean, there's others we can talk about too. If we were going to talk like Jackie Mitchell and Tony Stone, you know, maybe Pina Johnson. But. The women from the all Americans, you know, and I have, I feel blessed that we had the opportunity to actually be able to speak with some of them now. No,  ,,Lois young as I had her and Sue on the show, Lois is a hoot, but

[00:29:27] Mark Corbett: no, no.  ,,well, I want to continue to be an advocate for the game, advocate for the game in any capacity that I can. And. Whatever this league comes to be, I hope we see something good and strong and whoever's heading it up. But, you know, I guess that's the main thing I want to make sure. I, I don't want to pause and not do anything.

[00:29:50] Mark Corbett: I just want to make sure that whatever does come together is strong and effective for you all or that league. 

[00:29:56] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, I agree. I think obviously Sue and her group have been doing a lot over the last couple of years,  ,,to have a league eventually. And I, I I'll tell you like the opening night we had in Durham,  ,,about a month ago or so, yeah, about a month ago.

[00:30:12] Beth Greenwood:  ,Michael Goodman was talking,  ,,about, you know, their partnership with us now and, you know, taking this over and actually coached his daughter last December, you His daughter, I think, is probably 13 now, but  ,I coached Lou in Costa Rica with Baseball for All, so it was just this weird full circle moment because I actually didn't know that he was with the Bulls, so I was just like, whoa.

[00:30:35] Beth Greenwood:  ,but that was in that moment when he was talking about like, this is, you know, we want to do this, we're going to have MLB coverage, we're going to have this, you know, that and the other, and, you know, , you know, we were treated like professional athletes. Like I was sitting there and I was like, wow, like this is the closest it's felt for me in my career that this is gonna happen in my career.

[00:30:53] Beth Greenwood: That's like every player's biggest fear I think right now is that it's not gonna happen in time for me. Right. Yeah.  ,and I obviously if it, it doesn't, but it is able to happen for other girls, I will be a part of that in whatever capacity that looks like. However. Obviously, I want to play in it. Yeah.

[00:31:08] Beth Greenwood: And so that was the 1st time, I think, in my career, because in my head, it was always like, when do you think that that's going to be a feasible possibility to happen? And that was the 1st time where I was like, this is going to happen in my career. It's not going to be too late for me.  ,and so I think that, obviously, there's a lot of different,  ,groups that are working towards this goal, but I, I really hope that we're able to use.

[00:31:28] Beth Greenwood: I don't think women's baseball has enough resources for everyone to kind of do their own thing. So I hope that we, you know, those groups are able to come together and whatever that, in whatever capacity that looks like, and, you know, support,  ,and resources and other ways to promote the league and for it to be successful.

[00:31:42] Beth Greenwood: Because I think at the end of the day, that's all we want is a successful league. And it doesn't matter,  ,how I mean, it matters, but it's not as important of like how we get there, but just making sure that that happens. So, 

[00:31:53] Mark Corbett: well, the energy is there. I think the people are there and hopefully that'll all come on,  ,,tied up with a neat little bow and then delivered to the public.

[00:32:00] Mark Corbett: And they say, yes, thank you. This is what I've been looking for. Thank goodness we're here. So,  ,,Beth, is there anything specific you'd like to share or, or talk about? 

[00:32:13] Beth Greenwood:  ,I mean, nothing specific. I think that it's just awesome how much I've been able to see in my career. Girls and women's baseball grow exponentially.

[00:32:21] Beth Greenwood: I remember the first time I ever got to play with other girls, there was 30 other girls at a baseball for all event,  ,,back in 2011. And I thought that was the coolest thing in the entire world.  ,little did I know that I'd be competing in a world cup against, you know,  ,and so I think that I'm excited for the direction that women's baseball is going in and girls baseball and the more resources and time and energy and effort in promoting the game that is done, the better it's going to be.

[00:32:48] Beth Greenwood: And I'm excited for when a league is launched. It's not a matter of if it's when. And so I'm excited to see something that we've all known has been great for a long time. 

[00:32:58] Mark Corbett: And folks, I'm going to tell you right now, if you haven't seen Beth Greenwood, we're going to go to,  ,,I'll put a link to the all American girls baseball classic, because you will see, and I'll pull it up again.

[00:33:08] Mark Corbett: I don't, I don't have a cheering at the moment, but you will see that,  ,,miss Beth here, she knows how to play. It wasn't four at bats, two, two hits. So they,  ,,see a couple of runs are in an RBI. I think that's what it was on one of the games, maybe in the final game. And that must've been exciting game too, because that was one.

[00:33:29] Mark Corbett: Yeah, 

[00:33:30] Beth Greenwood: yeah. Yeah. It was a, it was a stressful game.  ,especially a lot of those players in that team are players I've been playing against their manager, Kevin. We've been playing, I've been playing against him for, you know, since I can remember. And so, it's It was personal. And,  ,you know, my best friend was on the other team.

[00:33:49] Beth Greenwood:  ,one of the pitchers in the, on the other team.  ,,so, you know, it's fun, but also, you know, you're competing and you want to win.  ,and so it was stressful because we were up going into, you know, the last couple of innings there. And then next thing we know,  ,they're making a comeback and tying the game and we had bases loaded full count.

[00:34:10] Beth Greenwood:  ,and I think it was the balance. Yeah, I was in the seventh inning. We had, it was bases loaded, full count, side game. It was like, this pitch is like, make or break it here. And so I just remember being like, Oh my God, like, cause we had a couple of walks that inning, a couple of errors. And it was just, you know, baseball, all things are going to happen.

[00:34:32] Beth Greenwood: And,  ,You know, being able to have a payoff pitch, it was a foul tip into my glove, send it into extra innings. And so it was, it was exciting.  ,and then also I was able to close out the game on a,  ,pop up behind home plate. And so it was kind of fun. It was, it was exciting. And just to be able to finish it and to be the one to finish it was pretty, pretty special, especially because I was the only catcher on roster.

[00:34:55] Beth Greenwood:  ,our other catcher,  ,,who was supposed to be there. She was impacted by the hurricane in Florida, so she was unable to make it. So I caught all four games and it was a long weekend, but it was a pretty special weekend and it was pretty cool to close it out. 

[00:35:09] Mark Corbett: Well, congratulations on that. Thanks for sharing that too.

[00:35:12] Mark Corbett: The last part of the championship game there. Cause I mean, it's, it is exciting. I mean, to be able to visualize that, but you can, again, you will be able to see,  ,,you'd be able to see Beth out here and I'll put a link at the bottom of the show here. to that game and the others as well. But Beth, I can't thank you enough for coming and sharing your time with us today.

[00:35:30] Beth Greenwood: Yeah, for sure. So happy that I was able to come and, you know, continue to share the game. 

[00:35:34] Mark Corbett: One last thing. So is where you're,  ,the games you're playing today, is that open to the public here in Fort Myers? 

[00:35:40] Beth Greenwood:  ,,yes.  ,if you go on the Roy Hobbs website, they'll have information about it.  ,I think with the location, cause I don't, I can't remember where the like regular games are, but then the, it's kind of fun.

[00:35:53] Beth Greenwood: The championship game and the bronze medal game is usually at JetBlue and one of the other spring training complexes around. So it's pretty, pretty special facility to get to play at. And so,  ,,but yeah, I do believe it is open to the public. So anyone more than barrier,  ,,so most women's baseball tournaments,  ,are so.

[00:36:11] Beth Greenwood: We always support anyone coming. 

[00:36:14] Mark Corbett: Well, great. If you could send me a link on that now, I'll share it with everybody else too. Yeah. Perfect. Okay. Well, I want to thank all y'all for joining us here today and having the great opportunity to speak with Miss Beth Greenwood.  ,,everything from doing player development with the Phillies to being a champion with the USA Women's National Team and all the fun you can have with All American Girls Baseball Classic.

[00:36:35] Mark Corbett: And we're all looking forward to a new league of their own, professional baseball for women. So again, thank you very much. I appreciate it, Beth. Yeah, of course. Alrighty, I'll put a little tail on here in the end of this thing and,  ,,wrap, but here, let me stop this.