Jen Pawol Becomes MLB’s First Female Umpire: A Historic Milestone

Jen Pawol, a female baseball umpire, is still making history.

Pawol will be the first female umpire to officiate an MLB regular-season game when she gets called up to serve as a member of the five-team umpiring crew for this weekend’s Atlanta Braves-Miami Marlins series, which includes a doubleheader on Saturday, Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday.

On Sunday, August 10 at Atlanta’s Truist Park, Pawol will be behind the plate for the Braves vs. Marlins series finale. Due to the doubleheader, the crew needed a fifth member for the weekend, and she will be working each of the final three games of the series.

Major League Baseball’s call-up comes shortly after other major sports leagues removed the gender barrier by appointing female officials and referees. Violet Palmer became the NBA’s first female referee in 1997 when she officiated the Dallas Mavericks vs. Vancouver Grizzlies game, making her the first full-time female official to officiate a professional sporting event.

In 2015, Sarah Thomas became the first female on-field official in NFL history when she officiated the Kansas City Chiefs’ road game against the Houston Astros. Six years later, in 2021, Thomas made NFL history by becoming the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl.

According to MLB.com, Pawol started off as a baseball umpire in Rookie Ball in 2016 and advanced all the way to Triple-A in 2023, becoming the first female umpire to officiate at the highest level of the minor league in thirty-four years. In the same season, Pawol became the first female umpire to officiate a Triple-A championship game.

Here are some facts on Pawol:

Who is Jen Pawol?

The 47-year-old Pawol has a softball history, having played the sport at Hofstra University and being selected to the Colonial Athletic Association All-Conference team three times while playing catcher for the Pride. In 2001, she played for the U.S. women’s softball team, which won the global title.

The native of New Jersey began her career as an umpire in 2010 by officiating collegiate softball games. After completing the Umpire Training Academy, she was hired for a position in the Gulf Coast League in 2016, which led her to switch to baseball.

She did work a 2024 spring training game between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals, so her CV does include some MLB experience. Since Ria Cortesio did so in 2007, Pawol was the first female umpire to officiate a spring training game. She began that game at third base.

“I greatly appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm, everyone’s welcoming attitude on the field tonight was very, very special,” Pawol said in 2024 after umpiring her first MLB spring training game. “Both managers shared congratulations and were welcoming, along with my (umpiring) partners, the players. I knew a lot of the players on the field already and so many said ‘Congrats, great to see you up here.'”

Pawol is one of 17 current Triple-A umpires that are qualified to substitute in Major League games in the event that an MLB umpire takes a vacation or anything similar, according to MLB.com.

When will Jen Pawol start off as an MLB umpire?

Game 1 of the Braves-Marlins doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, marking Pawol’s MLB umpiring debut. The series finale is scheduled for Sunday, when she will handle the plate for the first time in the major leagues.