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 New York Mets, where 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 was an intern in the New York Mets' public relations department.
She then went to St. John's University School of Law and graduated with a law degree in 1987. In 1988 she was hired by the Boston Red Sox, working as an associate counsel. In 1990 she was promoted to assistant general manager for the Boston Red Sox. Becoming the first Black woman and second nonwhite female to hold an executive position in major league baseball.
Steward was selected as one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Leaders of Boston" in 1999 by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. 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.
