Major League baseball jersey worn by Justine Siegal

Major League baseball jersey is dark green with a button down front. A white "A's" is embroidered on the front. There is yellow fabric under the arms and around the collar. The number "15" in white is located on the back of the jersey. This was worn by the donor, Justine Siegal, as the first female coach of the Oakland A's instructional league in 2015.

Justine Siegal was one of two girls on her little league t-ball team in 1982 long before girls were a regular sight on the baseball diamond. She went on to play through high school although discouraged to do so from male coaches and players at every level. Siegal went on to coach youth baseball, forming an all-girls team to compete in a national boy’s tournament in 2002 and became the first female coach at the collegiate level from 2008-2010. Always advocating for equity in sport, especially through baseball, Siegal caught the attention of several major league baseball teams. She became the first female coach of a professional men’s baseball team in the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball in 2009 and in 2011 was the first woman to pitch batting practice to the Cleveland Indians of MLB. The Oakland As hired her in 2015 to coach in their instructional league making her the first female coach employed by a major league team.

At 23, Siegal founded the nonprofit Baseball for All, “an organization that works toward gender equity in youth baseball by strongly encouraging and providing opportunities for girls to participate in baseball. The program works on giving girls the sources needed to participate in the sport whether it means becoming a player, coach, umpire, or filling other baseball roles in hopes that other communities will extend their baseball programs to girls.”

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