Jen Pawol to make history as MLB's first female umpire
Photo credit: https://www.mlb.com/
Pawol will ump three games during this weekend's Marlins-Braves series in Atlanta, including both ends of Saturday's doubleheader and the series finale on Sunday, when she will be behind home plate.
Jen Pawol gets the call! This weekend, the Minor League ump will become the first woman to umpire in a regular season MLB game: https://atmlb.com/3J1l1tv
The doubleheader necessitated adding a fifth umpire to the crew, since each home plate umpire skips the other game they're not working.
Pawol, a 48-year-old from New Jersey, worked spring training games in 2024 and this year.
"Baseball's done a great job of being completely inclusive," Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I'll be watching. It's good for the game."
MLB's move comes 28 years after the gender barrier for game officials was broken in the NBA, 10 years after it ended the NFL and three years after the men's soccer World Cup employed a female referee.
The NHL still has not had any women on-ice officials.
Pawol has an extensive history and experience umpiring professional baseball
Pawol has steadily climbed the umpiring ranks since beginning her pro career in Rookie ball in 2016.
She reached Triple-A in 2023, becoming the first female umpire at that level in 34 years.
She was the home-plate ump for the Triple-A Championship that September. In 2024, Pawol became the first female umpire in a Spring Training game since Ria Cortesio in 2007.
She was a Triple-A crew chief in '24 and worked more Spring Training games in 2025.
"For me, personally, I just love doing the job," Pawol said in 2016. "I'm passionate about it, and it's just part of who I am."
Pawol was an all-state softball and soccer player in New Jersey for three seasons in each sport at West Milford High School.
She went to Hofstra on a softball scholarship and became a three-time all-conference pick and was on the USA Baseball women's national baseball team in 2001.
Pawol got a master's degree and was living in the Binghamton area of New York and taking teacher certification classes at Elmira College while still playing on the side.
"Anybody in baseball will tell you that you've just got to keep it simple, keep working hard, put your all into it and get ready for the next day,» Pawol said in 2024. «That's all I think about every day, get better before tomorrow.»
Source: The Associated Press
| POLL | ||
AOUT 6 | 273 ANSWERS Jen Pawol to make history as MLB's first female umpire Do you think MLB should bring up more women as umpires? | ||
| Yes | 210 | 76.9 % |
| No | 63 | 23.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
