The beginning of the Women’s Pro Baseball League this weekend will mark a lot of historic firsts. In the New York Heights dugout, one of them will be the league’s first female manager.
Rocky Henley, who played professional baseball herself with the Colorado Silver Bullets and the San Jose Spitfires and has previous experience coaching with Bay Sox Girls Baseball and Evolution Girls Baseball, was named the only woman to manage a team in the league — one that Heights players are excited to work with in the league’s inaugural season.
“It’s really a dream come true,” shortstop Keira Izumi said. “Being able to have that connection with Rocky, as a manager-player relationship, already puts us in a really good place to compete.”
The sentiment was echoed through commissioner Justine Siegal’s recollection of when she announced Henley’s hiring.
“When I announced at Baseball For All [that] Rocky would be the only woman manager for the WPBL, the girls erupted in cheers,” Siegal told The IX Sports in an email. “She is showing girls what is possible when you believe in [yourself] and never give up.”
Izumi said that in a new league, being able to work with a familiar face in a very new environment is reassuring. Valerie Perez, like Izumi, has previously known Henley through various women’s baseball events in the past.
“She’s just a light,” New York shortstop Perez said. “She’s different in the best way. She’s so positive and it’s contagious. … It’s something that anybody would want to be around, so when I found out she was coaching for New York, I was fired up just to be able to work around her even more.”
Even for players who hadn’t worked with Henley prior to the league, it was something to look forward to. Pitcher Jaida Lee told The IX Sports about how excited she was to work together.
“I haven’t met her in person before, but we’ve chatted over the phone,” Lee said. “A few of my teammates have had her as a coach before, and they all love her, and I’m super excited to meet her and see how she is on the field.”
For Henley, she says the opportunity has her feeling humbled and grateful.
“I never knew and never dreamt that this could happen to me, as a player and able to play professionally twice in my life … it was never on my mind,” Henley told The IX Sports. “I never ever thought I would be in this position. I can’t really say it’s a dream come true because I never dreamt it. It feels so surreal.”
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The path to becoming the team’s manager included Henley reaching out to Siegal when the league was first announced, Henley said, telling her that she would love to be a part of it in any way. Then, Henley was asked if she wanted to do evaluations at the league’s tryouts in Washington, D.C. Henley said that eventually, league co-founder Keith Stein reached out to her two months ago and asked her to manage.
“I was screaming and jumping up and down and I couldn’t wait to get off the call just to scream out loud, ‘hooray!’” Henley recalled of the moment. “I was just floored that they asked me to manage — not just a coach, but to manage.”
Henley said that New York will have a coaching staff of three, and that teams in the league will at least have a manager and a bench coach, and then another coach. For New York, rounding out the staff is Stephen Larkin, assistant baseball coach at Savannah State University and a former pro ballplayer himself (and brother of hall of famer Barry), and Henley’s son, who she said had recently been playing baseball in Australia.
For the rest of the teams, the league confirmed to The IX Sports that former MLB players Keith Foulke (Boston), Eric Young Sr. (Los Angeles), and Matt Williams (San Francisco) will be managing.
Lee said that it’s special to have Henley as the manager and to have a woman on the coaching staff, pointing out the importance of having women on the coaching side, as well. Perez is a coach herself with Banana Ball’s Firefighters and told The IX Sports that she knows what Henley’s extensive baseball resume brings to a staff.
“Knowing her knowledge of the game and the time that she spent into growing and building and working on people’s craft … I’m fired up just to have everybody get a piece of that,” Perez said.
