Elaine Weddington Steward
*The birth of Elaine Weddington Steward is celebrated on this date in 1964. She is a Black Lawyer and administrator.
Born in New York City, Steward was hired by the New York Mets. She won the Jackie Robinson Foundation program scholarship in sports management to attend St. John's University and graduated with honors, earning a bachelor's degree in athletic administration in 1984. While in school, she interned in the New York Mets' public relations department.
She then attended St. John's University School of Law and graduated with a law degree in 1987. In 1988, the Boston Red Sox hired her as an associate counsel. In 1990, she was promoted to assistant general manager, becoming the first Black woman and second nonwhite female to hold an executive position in major league baseball.
Steward was selected by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Leaders of Boston" in 1999. She was also elected to the YWCA's Academy of Women Achievers. At St John's University, she received the Outstanding Alumna Award from the Black Alumni Association and the St. John's University President's Medal.
Later, she received the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force's Sam Lacy Pioneer Award and the Jackie Robinson Foundation Sports Management award and scholarship. Steward was in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's "Women in Baseball" exhibit in Cooperstown, New York.
