NEW YORK — Jen Pawol is set to become the first woman to umpire in Major League Baseball when she works games this weekend between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves.
Pawol will work the bases in Saturday’s doubleheader at Truist Park and the plate Sunday, MLB said Wednesday.
“This historic accomplishment in baseball is a reflection of Jen’s hard work, dedication and love of the game,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “She has earned this opportunity, and we are proud of the strong example she has set, particularly for all the women and young girls who aspire to roles on the field.”
Pawol, a 48-year-old from New Jersey, worked spring training games in 2024 and this year. She will become the fifth umpire to debut this season.
“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 the NFL hired its first full-time female official and three years after the men’s soccer World Cup employed a woman referee. The NHL still has not had any women as on-ice officials.
Pawol in 2024 became the first woman to umpire big league spring training games since Ria Cortesio in 2007. Cortesio spent nine years in the minor leagues, including the last five in the Double-A Southern League, then was released after the 2007 season.
“We had seen her in spring training a lot,” Philadelphia Phillies star Trea Turner said. “I don’t know much about her or statistics or anything like that, but if she’s doing a great job, I love seeing the opportunity for her, and I’m happy for her. I talked to her a little bit in spring training and she seems like a great person and I wish her all the best.”
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 earned 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.
“I wasn’t really satisfied,” she said last year. “Coming off of a huge competitive career, just playing locally, I wasn’t getting my fix. And I remember looking at the umpire and being like, I think that’s it. I got to go for that.”
After umpiring NCAA softball from 2010 to 2016, she attended an MLB umpire tryout camp in 2015, was invited to the Umpire Training Academy at Vero Beach, Florida, and was offered a job in the Gulf Coast League in 2016. She has been working in the minor leagues since, including for the 2023 Triple-A championship game.
Violet Palmer became the NBA’s first woman referee when she worked Dallas’ opener at Vancouver on Oct. 31, 1997. Shannon Eastin became the NFL’s first woman on-field official on Sept. 9, 2012, for San Diego’s game at St. Louis as a replacement when regular officials were locked out, and Sarah Thomas was the NFL’s first permanent woman on-field official and made her debut when she served as line judge for Kansas City’s game at Houston on Sept. 13, 2015.
Stéphanie Frappart of France became the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup game when she worked Germany’s 4-2 group stage win over Costa Rica on Dec. 1, 2022, and Rebecca Welch became the first to referee in England’s Premier League when she officiated Burnley’s 2-0 win at Fulham on Dec. 23, 2023.
MLB has 76 full-time staff umpires and uses fill-ins on crews for openings created by injuries and vacations.
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