JUPITER, Fla. _ Alexandria Rigoli and Melissa Hampton, co-workers and roommates, never intended to become a part of Miami Marlins history. They were just kids who loved baseball, who wanted to work in baseball, who have tailored much of their young adulthood to pursuing the dream of ending up in baseball.
But here they are, living close enough to the Marlins' Roger Dean Stadium facility so that they could walk to work, gainfully employed with entry-level, full-time gigs in their ideal field and a footnote in their new employer's history.
Rigoli, 22, a pro scouting assistant, is the first woman to work in baseball operations for the Marlins (aside from multiple executive assistants). Hampton, 26, the athletic trainer for the club's Gulf Coast League team, is the first woman to work on a field staff for the Marlins.
And their paths are a testament to a baseball truth: There is no formula on how to break in.
Hampton grew up in a tiny town near Oklahoma City, where people have full conversations during elevator rides. Rigoli, who bristled at the notion, is from North Jersey, less than an hour from New York City.
Rigoli played Division III softball in college. Hampton dropped softball after one lame practice when she was 6.
Hampton and her family had to drive six hours round trip to go to the nearest big league ballpark. Rigoli, the daughter of a scout, was indoctrinated into the game by default and stuck with it of her own volition.
Now they are two among a growing _ but still small _ number of women in baseball, and the first hired by the Marlins on the baseball side of the organization.
"I'm all for (hiring) whoever is going to do the best job," said Brian Bobier, the Marlins' athletic training coordinator and Hampton's boss. "You're seeing this change in thinking and culture, which is fantastic. You look at today's society and how things are moving, I think it's a great thing."
In Rigoli and Hampton, the Marlins believe they have two people who are going to do the best job. Here is how they got them.
