MT is first woman in dugout

A baseball team’s training staff is usually anonymous to even the most diehard fans, but the San Diego Padres’ massage therapist, Kelly Calabrese, has quickly jumped into the limelight.

After the team’s All-Star catcher Mike Piazza hit a home run against the New York Mets in May, he high-fived Calabrese in the dugout, leading Met announcer Keith Hernandez to comment, “women don’t belong in the dugout.”

As the first woman ever allowed to sit in the dugout during major league baseball games, Calabrese is making history—and she doesn’t let remarks like Hernandez’ bother her.

“I never let being a woman be an issue,” she said. “I have never had a problem with any of my players.”

Calabrese first began working with baseball players in Cleveland in 1996. Cleveland Indians infielder Carlos Baerga was referred to her by a friend, and he referred more Indians as clients. The players liked her work so much that she was asked to accompany the team to spring training, and she was soon also working on Atlanta Braves players.

That led to her meeting Ryan Klesko, a fierce slugger with the Braves. When he was traded to the Padres in 2000, he asked Calabrese to come along with the promise that he would help her with her goal of joining a major league staff.

The Padres used her on a part-time basis for a few years before head trainer Todd Hutcheson hired her full time after the 2003 season.

Now, each day she arrives at the ballpark several hours before game time and begins working on just about the entire team with soft-tissue massage and other hands-on techniques.

“The fact that I am at an advanced age (37) as far as baseball players go, if I didn’t have someone like Kelly treating me every day, I wouldn’t be able to play as much as I have,” Piazza says. “To be in a locker room with a bunch of guys, you need to have a special personality. She has that, and we enjoy having her here.”

— Keith Loria