Madison Shipman made history Friday night, becoming the first woman to call a regular-season Toronto Blue Jays game on television.
She's working as color analyst for Sportsnet's entire three-game series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, with Toronto looking to keep its recent momentum going.
This wasn't Shipman's first rodeo in a Blue Jays booth either. She called two spring training games in Dunedin back in February, a preview of exactly this moment.
Shipman joined Sportsnet as a Blue Jays analyst in June 2023 and has since become a regular face on Blue Jays Central alongside Jamie Campbell.
Her path here started long before baseball, though. Shipman played shortstop at Tennessee, helping lead the Lady Volunteers to back-to-back Women's College World Series appearances in 2012 and 2013.
Her senior year in 2014 was ridiculous by any measure. She hit .417 with 18 home runs and a 1.381 OPS, earning SEC Player of the Year honors.
She figured her future was in coaching, volunteering with Tennessee's softball program after graduating.
How a softball career turned into a Blue Jays broadcast job
ESPN had other plans. The network noticed her player interviews alongside respected analysts like Jessica Mendoza and Beth Mowins and offered her an audition in 2018.
That audition turned into a real broadcasting career, covering collegiate softball for ESPN in both analyst and play-by-play roles before she made the jump to Sportsnet in 2023.
Play-by-play voice Dan Shulman didn't hold back when describing what she's brought to the Blue Jays booth.
"I think she's terrific," Shulman told the Toronto Star. "She's brought knowledge and confidence and opinions, and not everybody comes in and is willing to state their mind right away about how they feel about things."
It's a path that mirrors a lot of athletes who find a second calling once the playing days end, except Shipman's second act is happening in real time, on live television, in front of an entire fan base watching closely.
Toronto enters this series fresh off taking the set against San Francisco, and Shipman gets a genuine winning stretch to call as her regular-season debut unfolds in San Diego.
Whatever happens on the field this weekend, the booth already made its own kind of history before the first pitch.
Does Madison Shipman's rise from Tennessee softball star to Blue Jays broadcaster inspire you?
Also read on Blue Jays Insider :
Dylan Cease sends quite the message to Cam Schlittler and the Yankees
