Jen Pawol umpired a game today. A Major League baseball spring training game. It’s early March so she’s where very few have been before. She has to know she’s getting close to uncharted territory.
Triple-A umpire Jen Pawol is scheduled to work Major League Spring Training. She will be the first woman umpire assigned to Major League Spring Training games since 2007. pic.twitter.com/8zKmlp2KGC
— MLB (@MLB) February 12, 2024
The last female ump at spring training was Ria Cortesio. Entering last season, Pawol was one of only nine women to have worked minor league games ever.
Only two have ever umpired at the Triple-A level. Pawol is one. Pam Postema is the other.
From a story in the Atlantic, her Triple-A crew chief Jonathan Ortega was quite conident in her taking one more step:
“She’s going to make it,” said Ortega, who called Pawol one of the hardest workers he’s ever seen. “I don’t know if it will be one year or two years from now, but I think she’s going to do it.”
NBA & NFL Already There
The NFL currently has three women on the officiating staff on-field. Sarah Thomas was the first hired to the permanent staff. She worked as a down judge in 2020.
The NBA had it’s second female reach a playoff game last season in Ashley Moyer-Gleich. Violet Palmer worked nine playoff games between 2006 and 2012.
Pawol Almost There
She’s worked her way up. Starting in 2017 and now she’s just a phone call away. Pawol was placed on the MLB call-up list after an assignment to the Triple-A National Championship Game in 2023.
Now the forty-eight year old from West Milford New Jersey is working MLB spring training games. In her first, she was greeted warmly by fans, managers and players.
“I greatly appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm, everyone’s welcoming attitude on the field, tonight was very, very special”
It’s been twenty-seven years since the NBA broke the barrier.
It’s time.
