Amazin' Mets Foundation Legacy Award Given To Kelsie Whitmore

 

Kelsie Whitmore with Alex Cohen (right) and Mets Manager Andy Green. (left)

This year's Amazin' Mets Foundation Legacy Award was given to professional baseball player Kelsie Whitmore on Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field.

This annual award is presented to honor the people and organizations in the baseball community that are making a difference and driving impactful change, both on and off the field. 

Whitmore embodies that, as she has played for USA Baseball's Women's National Team and made history as the first woman to play in the Atlantic League with the Staten Island Ferry Hawks, first woman to start a Pioneer League game, and the first ever female full-time pitcher for the Savannah Bananas.

"To receive this award from the Amazin' Mets Foundation is an incredible honor, Whitmore said in a statement. "Baseball has given me the chance to compete, grow, and prove that there is room in this game for girls and women at every level. If my journey helps even one young girl believe she belongs on the field, then that means everything."

Recently, Whitmore was selected first overall in the Women's Pro-Baseball League (WPBL) inaugural draft in 2025 by the San Francisco franchise. The WPBL is the first women's professional baseball league in the United States since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which competed in the 1940s and '50s.

As part of the Legacy Award, the Amazin' Mets Foundation, the philanthropic part of the Mets organization whose President is team Owner Alex Cohen, made a $5,000 grant to New York Girls Baseball, nonprofit all-girls baseball organization based in the New York metropolitan area.

"Kelsie Whitmore's story is an inspiration to so many young athletes, Cohen said in a statement. "She has shown what is possible through hard work and a deep love of the game. We are proud to honor Kelsie with the Amazin' Mets Foundation Legacy Award and celebrate the example she is setting for the next generation of girls in baseball."

Previous honorees of Amazin' Mets Foundation Legacy Award include Maybelle Blair, a former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player and a lifelong advocate for women in baseball; the Louisville Slugger Warriors Amputee Baseball Team, a competitive baseball team of military veterans and amputees; and Sarah Langs, the beloved baseball researcher, reporter, and advocate whose passion for the game has inspired many baseball fans.