{"id":56303,"date":"2025-08-09T22:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T22:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/56303\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T22:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T22:07:07","slug":"jen-pawol-breaks-mlbs-gender-barrier-as-first-female-umpire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/56303\/","title":{"rendered":"Jen Pawol breaks MLB’s gender barrier as first female umpire"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Jen Pawol felt love and support from fans, family, peers and players as she made history as the first female umpire<\/a> to work a regular-season game in the major leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing when we took the field,\u201d Pawol said. \u201cIt seemed like quite a few people were clapping and calling my name. That was pretty intense and emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pawol\u2019s much-anticipated debut came as the first base umpire for Saturday\u2019s first game of a split doubleheader between the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins. It was a smooth debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did a good job,\u201d Braves manager Brian Snitker said. \u201cYou can tell she knows what she does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pawol said she had a group of about 30 friends and family members, including her father, at the game and she immediately identified a major difference of working in a major league stadium. Those familiar faces were not so easy to find at Truist Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I looked up they weren\u2019t in the lower tier like in the minor leagues,\u201d Pawol said. \u201cWhen I looked up it took me a while. Whoa, they\u2019re up there! I\u2019ll never forget that. That was just awesome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream actually came true today. I\u2019m still living in it. I\u2019m so grateful to my family and Major League Baseball for creating such an incredible work environment \u2026 I\u2019m just so thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pawol\u2019s first real test came in the third inning of Atlanta\u2019s 7-1 win<\/a> when she called Braves catcher Sean Murphy safe on a close play. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough did not challenge the call.<\/p>\n

Pawol also showed she will make animated calls. When Miami\u2019s Xavier Edwards grounded into a double play in the third inning, Pawol pumped her fist and lifted her leg when she called Edwards out.<\/p>\n

Pawol couldn\u2019t help but notice her debut was being watched closely. Fans responded with a warm ovation when the video board focused on the umpire between innings, forcing her to take a quick glance at her image.<\/p>\n

Pawol was scheduled to work third base in Saturday night\u2019s second game of the doubleheader. She will be in the spotlight when she calls pitches behind the plate in Sunday\u2019s final game of the series. As a rover, she\u2019ll then be waiting for her next assignment.<\/p>\n

While she waits, the umpire cap she wore in her first game will be on the way to the Baseball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the proudest moments in all my career,\u201d crew chief Chris Guccione said. \u201cI\u2019ve been blessed with working playoffs, I\u2019ve worked two World Series, All-Star games, and this is right up there. It gives me chills even thinking about it. And the magnitude, it just hit me just now the magnitude of this thing and how hard she\u2019s worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just a great role model for girls and women out there and I\u2019m just so proud of her. This is a special moment. I\u2019m so proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was much anticipation for her historic debut on Saturday. A crowd of photographers gathered while waiting for the umpires to walk onto the field from their entry ramp near the Marlins dugout.<\/p>\n

McCullough and Braves bench coach Walt Weiss greeted Pawol when lineups were exchanged at home plate before the game. Pawol then jogged down the first base line. She shook hands with Marlins first base coach Tyler Smarslok before taking her position on the right field line for the first pitch.<\/p>\n

Pawol said Thursday<\/a> she was \u201covercome with emotion\u201d when notified she would make her Major League Baseball debut this weekend.<\/p>\n

Pawol, 48, has been working in the minor leagues since she was assigned to the Gulf Coast League in 2016. She was assigned the Triple-A championship game in 2023 and worked spring training games<\/a> in 2024 and again this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime anybody grinds their way through the minor leagues, I don\u2019t care who it is, that\u2019s a tough thing,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cI\u2019m happy for anybody who grinds it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if she is prepared for a confrontation with a manager upset about a call, including some known to kick dirt onto umpires, Pawol said it wouldn\u2019t be the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than dozens of times,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t go very well for him. The night is usually over for him. It\u2019s just part of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pawol, who is from New Jersey, had only a few days to prepare for Saturday\u2019s doubleheader. She said she was told of her long-awaited promotion during a Wednesday conference call with director of umpire development Rich Rieker and vice president of umpire operations Matt McKendry.<\/p>\n

Pawol was a three-time all-conference softball selection pick at Hofstra. She worked as an NCAA softball umpire from 2010-16.<\/p>\n

Pawol\u2019s rise to make MLB history came 28 years after the NBA gender barrier for game officials was broken and 10 years after the NFL hired its first full-time female official. The men\u2019s soccer World Cup first hired a female referee three years ago. The NHL has not had any women as on-ice officials.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/MLB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Jen Pawol felt love and support from fans, family, peers and players as she made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[4996,64,63,4034,6775,46459,46461,8103,2755,6779,482,6782,41166,46462,1188,591,6784,6778,3029,85,41167,46460,488,46458,46457],"class_list":["post-56303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baseball","tag-brian-snitker","tag-chris-guccione","tag-clayton-mccullough","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-ga-state-wire","tag-general-news","tag-georgia","tag-jen-pawol","tag-matt-mckendry","tag-miami-marlins","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-new-jersey","tag-sean-murphy","tag-sports","tag-sports-officiating","tag-tyler-smarslok","tag-u-s-news","tag-walt-weiss","tag-xavier-edwards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}