The first feature in our Women in Baseball series of interviews this season begins with Lucy Calautti, Director of Government Relations, Major League Baseball.
In 1962, a young girl waited patiently outside the Polo Grounds for her childhood baseball hero, Mets Short Stop Elio Chacon, to autograph a foul ball caught by her father. Young Lucy Calautti could never have predicted that one day she’d be working at the right hand of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Some people spend a lifetime trying to find a job they love, but Lucy Calautti, Major League Baseball’s lobbyist, has achieved that dream.
A Mets fan by birth, Lucy spent her summer nights as a child at the newly opened Shea Stadium, just one subway stop from her home in Flushing. It was there that Lucy first fell in love with the American pastime. “My generation of men and women in New York were huge baseball fans. You rode the subway, you talked baseball. I mean, that’s just the way it was.”
She left Flushing to join the Navy to help pay for college while the country was in the midst of the Vietnam War. During those four years, she became close friends with the only other woman in her squadron, a friendship that prompted her to visit and eventually move to North Dakota.
In North Dakota, Lucy finished her college education and earned a degree in English. She worked as a school teacher, but quickly fell in love with politics. Her work in the women’s movement caught the attention of state official Byron Dorgan. Dorgan encouraged Lucy to join his team as a writer and advisor. She ran his race for the U.S. House of Representatives and eventually served as his Chief of Staff in Washington, all the while becoming “known in North Dakota as someone who really understood politics and policy and how to win battles.”
In 1986, she ran Kent Conrad’s successful race for the U.S. Senate. She recalls, “He was 38 points behind and he actually ran against an incumbent and yet we won. In North Dakota, they said it was the political story of the century. And I like to joke that I was so proud of him that he won, that I married him.” The two made their home in Washington where Lucy returned to work for Byron Dorgan, running his races and serving as his Chief of Staff.
Then, after two decades in politics, “it just so happened, that Major League Baseball…was looking for an executive that would help them navigate their issues in Washington.” Instantly, Lucy thought, “I am just exactly the right person for this job.”
As Major League Baseball’s lobbyist, Lucy spends her time in Washington as an “advocate for the Commissioner on issues for which Major League Baseball might need help from Congress.” At the beginning of each year, Calautti sits down with each of the thirty clubs and the Commissioner to find out what issues or problems they have encountered that could be addressed administratively, through a federal agency or by Congress.
For example, Calautti says, “Some very important immigration issues emerged starting several years ago when I would do these interviews with the clubs and they needed me to get legislation passed to fix…problems that were keeping our foreign born players from coming into this country.”
Calautti’s typical day then involves:
…visiting with members of Congress, writing reports, giving them language that they can use to create a bill, sitting down with everybody on the appropriate committee and their staffs to go over why this is important, doing letters of support and bringing out baseball owners or officials from Major League Baseball to sit down with Congress to show the importance of these issues.
After the bill is drafted and has achieved support from key members, Calautti helps to grind out the bill and persuade members of both the House and the Senate to get the legislation passed. Like most lobbyists, she often hosts fundraisers for members of Congress to help them raise money for campaigns as well.
Of course, as we all know, there are times when Congress approaches Major League Baseball directly about issues. For the past several years, Congress has taken an increased role in investigating steroid allegations. During those times, Calautti has found herself explaining “to Congress and the Administration baseball’s position…on issues that we don’t necessary want Congress to fix but that Congress has decided they want to be involved in.” Part of her duties will require continued “work with Congress to oppose the legalization of any kinds of drugs or so called dietary supplements that metabolize in the body as steroids.”
As Major League Baseball’s advocate on Capitol Hill, she also has the opportunity to introduce people in the political world to baseball, a task which admittedly is her favorite part of the job. “I love when members of Congress want to sit down and talk baseball and ask me, ‘So, what do you think? Are the Tigers going to be in first place this year? Is their pitching going to be as good as Cleveland’s?’ I love that members of Congress and other people in the world of politics and policy see me as a way to express their love of the game.”
But Lucy has another special task. Every year, she introduces baseball players to the world of politics. Calautti brings Major League Baseball’s 150-180 rookies to Washington for a civics lesson every summer. She takes them to the floor of the Senate, the floor of the House and to the White House. They also dine with her in the Capitol.
Of course, Lucy’s dream job hasn’t come without challenges. Throughout her whole life, Calautti has taken positions that had been ordinarily or previously been filled by men. Starting with the Navy and throughout her twenty year career in government and politics, she was a trailblazer for other women. Baseball, Calautti says, was not a huge reach for her personally but expectantly, she encountered additional challenges in the industry.
There are certain things that women face if they are in a world where there are primarily men. And it’s seems that having to prove oneself is a very important part of it. And so, I do it. I do it by putting my head down and doing my job really well and being accepted over time. But is it instant acceptance? No. Is it a little difficult sometimes for men who are, for example, in a sport to get used to having a woman around professionally? It can be.
Lucy compliments Commissioner Selig for making her transition easier, “because Bud Selig is very comfortable with strong professional women. He’s married to one. His daughter Wendy ran, as you know, a Major League Baseball club, so I was very fortunate in having his leadership.”
Calautti laughingly admits, however, that the Commissioner’s office really wasn’t interested in her extensive baseball knowledge. “I tried to regale them with it. I knew everybody’s lineup and I memorized ERA’s and I just loved baseball.” Instead, they wanted somebody who could navigate Washington. It just so happened that the person they chose also loved the national pastime.
Lucy loves the game because it’s intelligent – meaning it requires one to understand that there are lot of different things going on all at once. During every pitch, from the pitcher and catcher battery that decides what to throw, to the batter and his team’s base runners, to the coaching staff’s strategic decisions to move outfielders or put on a shift, baseball requires fans to follow all of it simultaneously.
Her respect for baseball’s tradition requires a solid appreciation for statistics and records. “Real baseball fans, they really pay attention to the numbers. And that’s a very exciting part of the game. The numbers seem to be more important at baseball than in any other game.”
As you may have guessed, Lucy, a stickler for tradition, prefers the National League game and wants to see organizations develop their own players. “I love the idea of a David Wright. I think the fact that he’s homegrown. When I say homegrown, I mean, he came through their system. And I really like the idea of baseball returning to the idea of building up your own farm organization and bringing exciting young people to the game. And, oh my heavens, he is a gamer.”
Though Calautti has wined and dined with both beltway and baseball insiders, she wishes she could spend a lunch hour with Hall of Fame pitcher, Sandy Koufax. “Is he the greatest left-hander in history? Perhaps,” she wonders out loud. Calautti shares with many baseball fans a deep respect for Koufax’s career and his ability to walk away from the game he loved and never look back at such a young age.
She, too, has had a career worthy of respect. Having paved the way with no professional female role models, Calautti takes to heart the task of providing advice and guidance to young people today.
If you have a goal, if you want to break into an industry, make sure that you present the right skill sets. I can’t tell you how often as a mentor to young people I find that they come to me and say, for example, ‘I’d really like to work in baseball or in sports because I love it so much.’ And I say to them, ‘that’s all well and fine. Glad you love it. But what do you bring to the table?’ You must make sure that if you want to break into a certain kind of industry, whether it is sports or anything else, that you’ve built up the education and experience that you can use to really sell what you are to your prospective company or organization.
Lucy used the skills she developed over twenty years in local, state and federal politics to land her dream job of representing Major League Baseball in Washington. She has overcome challenges thrown her way and continues to be a great example to women in professional sports.
A special thanks to Lucy for taking the time to speak with us, despite her busy schedule.
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