Mary Shane Becomes Baseball's First Female Play-by-Play Announcer

On January 4, 1977, the Chicago White Sox announced the hiring of Mary Shane as a member of their broadcast team, making her the first woman to serve as a television play-by-play announcer for a major league club. The hire placed Shane alongside Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, and Jimmy Piersall in the White Sox broadcast booth for the upcoming season.

Shane had caught Caray's attention the previous summer while working in the County Stadium press box during a White Sox series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Caray, surprised to see a young woman in the press box, invited her to call some play-by-play on the air. She performed well enough that he brought her back for the next game, and again on a subsequent visit to Milwaukee. When Charlie Warner, general manager of Chicago's WMAQ radio, needed to fill out the broadcast team for 1977, Shane's name was already familiar.

She had built her credentials through local radio work in Milwaukee and a deep knowledge of the game that impressed colleagues and players. Her hiring drew national attention, with wire services carrying the story across the country. The Fond du Lac Reporter ran the headline "Milwaukee woman to broadcast Sox games" the same day.

Shane was guaranteed only twenty dates in the broadcast booth during the 1977 season. She called games on both radio and television, working around a rotation that gave the primary duties to Caray and Piersall. Her tenure with the White Sox lasted less than a full season. She was pulled from broadcasts before the year ended, and the team did not renew her contract.

Shane died on November 1, 1987, at the age of 42. Women would not return to regular play-by-play duties in the major leagues for decades. Her brief run with the White Sox in 1977 opened a door that took a long time to open any wider.