Jessica Mendoza becomes first woman to fill analyst role for MLB game on ESPN

When Jessica Mendoza joined Dave O’Brien and Dallas Braden in the broadcast booth for Monday’s matchup featuring the St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamdondbacks, it was the first time a woman was used an analyst for a Major League Baseball game in the the 35-year history of ESPN.

Aaron Boone is usually the third member of the broadcast team for ESPN2’s Monday Night Baseball, but he was busy this week working the Little League World Series, so ESPN tabbed Mendoza to step in.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]

Mendoza, who’s been with the network since 2014, called a College World Series game last year and appears frequently on Baseball Tonight, on top of doing sideline reporting for ESPNU and writing for espnW.

There’s no questioning Mendoza’s on-field credentials either. She’s a two-time Olympic medalist, playing for the U.S. softball team at the Summer Games in 2004 and 2008.

[On this week’s StewPod: Angels pitcher Hector Santiago talks about his huge autograph collection.]

Before participating in the history-making broadcast, Mendoza spoke to Allure Magazine about the feedback she’s received during her time with ESPN:

“First off, it’s been really cool how supportive everyone has been so far. I have definitely heard everything good and bad you could hear from people, and it doesn’t bother me. Because when it’s something like a tweet that says, ‘Women don’t know baseball; they shouldn’t talk about baseball,’ it’s like, ‘OK, welcome to 2015. Where have you been for the last 20 years?'”

Her experiences make her eminently qualified to provide thoughtful analysis and her presence in the booth represents a progressive step forward for the sport and the media industry as well.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr