Jen Pawol will make history this weekend when she becomes the first female umpire to work a regular season MLB game during the Marlins-Braves series at Truist Park.
The moment comes thanks to Saturday’s scheduled doubleheader between Atlanta and Miami. Since each home plate umpire has to sit out the other game of a doubleheader, crews need a fifth umpire for these situations.
Pawol will work both games Saturday and stick around for Sunday’s series finale. That’s three of the five total games in this series.
Jen Pawol will become the first female umpire ever to work a regular season Major League game during this weekend’s Marlins-Braves series in Atlanta.
Pawol, a Minor League Umpire since 2016, is one of 17 current Triple-A call-up umpires eligible to substitute in Major League… pic.twitter.com/j5sZCzY1Uo
— MLB (@MLB) August 6, 2025
Pawol’s Path to the Majors
The 48-year-old took an unconventional route to this moment. She was working as an eighth-grade art teacher in New Jersey while umpiring softball part-time. That changed in 2016 when she decided to commit full-time and attended MLB’s Umpire Training Academy.
She’s been climbing the minor league ladder since 2017. Pawol reached Triple-A in 2023 and became the third woman in MLB history to umpire a spring training game in 2024. She worked spring training again this year before earning this call-up.
Pawol played catcher at Hofstra University, so she knows the game from a player’s perspective. According to the Society for American Baseball Research, that playing experience helped shape her approach behind the plate.
“I just view it as, if you’re good at it, and you like it, you should do it,” Pawol said about umpiring. She doesn’t see it as a “gender job,” even though the field is dominated by men.
Breaking New Ground
While Pawol is achieving a first at the MLB level, she’s building on decades of groundwork laid by other women.
Bernice Gara became the first woman to umpire a professional baseball game with a one-game stint in 1972. Christine Wren followed her as the second, working three seasons in the minors during the 1970s.
Two women reached spring training before Pawol. Pam Postema made history as the first in 1988, and Ria Cortesio became the first woman since Postema to umpire a spring training game in 2007.
Now Pawol is hoping she’s just the beginning of a trend among women interested in umpiring. She’s gone further than any female umpire before her, but the way she sees it, this should be about ability, not breaking barriers.
That’s exactly the mindset that got her here. From part-time softball umpire to MLB history maker – not bad for someone who just wanted to do what she was good at.
