Baseball with Matt Interviews the First Female President of the BBWAA, Susan Slusser 11/25/12

Hey baseball fans!

I interviewed someone very important today: the first female President of the BBWAA (Baseball Writers' Association of America), Susan Slusser! The BBWAA does a lot of different things, including being in charge of voting people into the Hall of Fame (until 25 years after retirement), and voting for the MVP Award, the Cy Young Award, the Rookie of the Year Award, and Manager of the Year Award in the NL and AL.

Ms. Slusser covered the Texas Rangers from 1995-1996 and has been covering the Oakland Athletics since 1999 for the San Francisco Chronicle. She also covered the NBA's Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic. She was elected Vice President of the BBWAA in October of 2011 and this year, like I said before, she became the first female President of the BBWAA. The best part of all of this is that she agreed to let me interview her! Anyway, here's the interview:

Matt: How did you first get into baseball reporting?
Susan: I always wanted to be a baseball broadcaster or baseball writer from the age of six and did both in high school and in college, then internships at San Francisco radio and TV stations and at the Sacramento Bee. The Bee hired me full time while I was an intern.

Matt: Do you think there will be a female GM or manager in the near future?
Susan: I don't think there ever will be a woman manager. I believe Kim Ng will be a general manager within the next two or three years and probably should be already.

Matt: As the first female President of the BBWAA, are there any specific items you'd like to accomplish to help advance women?
Susan: My job is not in any way gender specific. The organization's goal is to ensure good working conditions for all baseball reporters.

Matt: In all the years you've been a BBWAA voting member, which vote gave you the most joy and why?
Susan: I try to leave personal feelings out of voting because it is supposed to be objective. I believe all voters feel the same.

Matt: Since you cover Oakland, what is your all time favorite Oakland A's moment?
Susan: Dallas Braden's perfect game in 2010, without a doubt, because his grandmother, who raised him, was there and it was Mothers Day.

Thanks again to Susan Slusser for being such a great sport and for answering all of my questions. I wish her the best of luck in her new job as BBWAA President.