Softball legend Smith to make history in TV booth
Michele Smith will make history on Sunday afternoon when she sits beside play-by-play man Ernie Johnson and analyst John Smoltz in the TBS booth for the Dodgers-Braves game at Turner Field, becoming the first female analyst for a nationally televised Major League Baseball game.

Even though baseball is not her primary diamond sport, the two-time U.S. Olympic softball gold medalist is probably as qualified as anyone for such a significant breakthrough. On this 40th anniversary of Title IX, Smith is exemplary of what happened after Congress declared in 1972:

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance ..."

On June 21, 1972, a little girl named Michele Smith turned 5 years old. Two days after she blew out the candles on her cake in Califon, N.J., where she grew up surrounded by Yankees and Mets fans, President Richard Nixon signed the Education Amendments of 1972 into law, including Title IX. That year, she began playing softball and unknowingly became an unstoppable pioneer.

- More: http://atmlb.com/S6rcJj