"We’re developing a sisterhood in there."

The New York Times takes a look at the just completed Winter Meetings...in about the way the New York Times would take a look at the just completed Winter Meetings.

The old boys of winter were in full stride, standing in a hotel lobby discussing this pitcher’s slider or that outfielder’s arbitration figures.

At the same moment, across the street from where all the scouts, agents, executives and reporters were dealing, gossiping and networking at baseball’s winter meetings, about 90 female baseball employees gathered to discuss the challenges and opportunities available in their male-dominated profession.

It was the second annual Working Women in Baseball conference. Female baseball employees, mostly from the minor leagues, attended the 90-minute seminar to exchange ideas, offer support and encouragement, and build a growing network of women in the sport.

“I love this event,” said Amy Venuto, the executive director for professional baseball at Ripken Baseball, which owns three minor league teams. “It helps to build relationships with other women in the industry. We’re developing a sisterhood in there.”

Anyone see this question coming down the pike?

The conference was the idea of Heather Raburn, a senior account manager for marketing at the Minor League Baseball headquarters in St. Petersburg, Fla. With more and more women joining the workforce, Raburn initiated the first Working Women in Baseball conference at last year’s winter meetings in Las Vegas, and it was enough of a success to conduct one this year, too.

Topics included career and family, leadership qualities and workplace etiquette.

A former softball player at New Mexico State, Raburn said she had not felt direct discrimination or been the victim of harassment during her 12 years in minor league baseball, and did not organize the event to combat oppressive working conditions.

“It’s more of a networking event,” she said. “It’s a chance to talk to other women in the same position and find out how they are handling situations and hear their insights on different topics.”

Then there's this from a Midwest Leaguer:

As the conference was breaking up, Sonya Masse, the director for entertainment and sales with the Class A Cedar Rapids Kernels, talked about how much she adored her sales job and considered her long hours at the ballpark therapeutic. She also considers her co-workers, male and female, like family.

She has experienced no discernible inequity, she said, but at times she has had difficulty convincing men that she knows as much about baseball as they do.

“It can be intimidating when you are the only woman among 30 men,” she said. “This is my third winter meetings, and at the first one I was afraid to ask any questions because there were all these guys around me.

“I’d love to see more women working in baseball because a lot of times there’s only one woman in the office besides the secretary. People think of baseball as being run by men, and I don’t want it to be that way anymore. That’s why this conference is so important.”

Here is our front office roster.