Red Sox

Salem Red Sox to debut first all-female broadcast booth in professional baseball

Melanie Newman and Suzie Cool will debut together on April 23.

Melanie Newman
Melanie Newman will join Suzie Cool in the Salem Red Sox broadcast booth. Courtesy of Salem Red Sox

The Salem Red Sox, the organization’s Class A affiliate, announced Wednesday that their booth will feature professional baseball’s first all-female broadcast team this season.

Melanie Newman and Suzie Cool will debut together on April 23. The organization noted that there are eight women calling games in the professional ranks, and just three — Kirsten Karbach (Reading Fightin Phils), Emma Tiedemann (Lexington Legends), and Jill Gearin (Visalia Rawhide) — in the minor leagues.

“I’m so beyond thrilled to be joining Salem for numerous reasons,” Newman said. “The timing could not have been more perfect; the ability to finally work with Suzie, after bonding over social media, the way most of us women in sports have, makes everything come full circle.”

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Newman brings a decade of broadcasting experience to the Red Sox, including a stint as the play-by-play announcer for the Frisco Roughriders last season. Salem’s president, Ryan Shelton, said Newman and Cool are going to “take this historical moment for the game of baseball, and make this season one to remember for the organization.”

Salem, the organization’s third-level team after the Pawtucket Red Sox and Portland Sea Dogs, opens their season on the road against the Wilmington Blue Rocks on April 4.