Janet Marie Smith, Dodgers, Senior Vice President of Planning and Development - WIB

BaseballBiz On Deck

• Early days studying architecture and design in Mississippi & New York
• Janet Marie Smith’s work with Fenway, Dodgers Stadium, Camden Yards, Ed Smith ballpark
• Janet Marie has been recognized by Cooperstown Hall of Fame in the Diamond Dreams exhibit
• Breakdown of 3 genres of baseball parks
• Renovations at Dodgers Stadium
• Camden Yards is the vision of Larry Lucchino – intimacy of an Old-fashioned ballpark
• Governor’s support of the Orioles after losing the football team to Indianapolis
• Working within restrictions & a tether
  • Preservation & Environmental impact
  • Controversy of keeping the old warehouse on Eutaw Street
  • Ballparks are not uniform with fixed architecture and field measurements
• Challenge of upgrading Fenway in Dodgers Stadium
• 3 Drivers to any project, The Schedule, The Design & the Scope of the project
• Stagger work on projects so that team may return to their home field each year
• Expansion of MLB teams with Montreal, Salt Lake & others
• Dodger Stadium expansion of the clubhouse this offseason – adding square footage that will include accommodating
  • batting cages
  • women
  • mental health
  • nutrition
• Ballpark Changes
  • Perry Barber, Umpire
  • Accommodations for women in the game
  • 2000 – 2005 construction included umpire rooms for men and women to dress in separate areas and have a common room to meet
  • PNC Park & others were built to give that room to women umpires were not used as women have not been brought up into MLB. Some of that room has been repurposed to Mascots, etc.
• Advancement of Women in Baseball across several different disciplines, Finance, Legal, Public Relations, Ticketing, Nutrition, Mental Health
• Janet Marie - sometimes best ideas come from people with background outside off sports
• Frank Robinson – ultimate insider – secret weapon on development on Camden Yards
• Larry Lucchino posits – How can the 2 smallest parks pull the greatest number of fans to the field
• Women in the game today, Catie Griggs, President of Business Operations, Baltimore Orioles as well as Kim Ng former GM of the Marlins
• Celebrating Toni Stone

You have been listening to a Women in Baseball edition of BaseballBiz On Deck, with special guest, Janet Marie Smith, Senior Vice President of Planning and Development for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Special Thanks to Gianna Daniece & Rick Vaughn for making this episode possible.

Thank you all for listening and remember , you can find Mark at @baseballbizondeck.bsky.social You may also find Baseball Biz on Deck, on iHeart, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and at baseball biz on deck.com.