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Betty Caywood: An Accidental Pioneer in Sports Broadcasting

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-924697.mp3

Kansas City, MO – This week, the Royals hosted the Oakland Athletics in a series that resulted in 1 win for the A's and 2 wins for Kansas City. Long-time baseball fans might recognized the A's visit as a kind of homecoming; before the Royals, the A's were Kansas City's home team from mid- 50s to the mid- 60s.

But the Kansas City Athletics proved season after season to be one of the worst teams in baseball, and tried one publicity stunt after another to capture the public's interest. KC Currents' Alex Smith reports on how one of these stunts inadvertently ended up breaking the glass ceiling for woman in sports journalism. In 1964, Betty Caywood - now Bushman - became the first female announcer in baseball.

This story was produced for KC Currents. To listen on your own schedule, subscribe to the KC Currents Podcast.

As a health care reporter, I aim to empower my audience to take steps to improve health care and make informed decisions as consumers and voters. I tell human stories augmented with research and data to explain how our health care system works and sometimes fails us. Email me at alexs@kcur.org.
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