Jen Pawol made history with the first pitch of Saturday’s game between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves when she became the first female umpire to work a Major League Baseball regular-season game.
Here’s a look at that very moment at Truist Park:
Pawol was called up from the Triple-A ranks to work both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader between the Marlins and Braves. She served as first-base umpire in the first game. In Sunday’s series final, she’ll be behind the plate calling balls and strikes.
After Saturday’s historic game, Pawol donated her cap to the Baseball Hall of Fame:
“Umpiring is for me. It’s in my DNA,” Pawol said during a Thursday Zoom call with reporters. “It’s been a long, hard journey to the top here. But I just love the camaraderie with my crew, with the fellow umpires. I love the travel. I love working out. There’s so many similarities being an athlete and an umpire, and I never have to leave the field when I’m umpiring. I’m just extremely focused on getting my calls right. And I’m so grateful to all those along the way who have helped me become a better umpire every day.”
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Pawol, 48, began her affiliated-baseball umpiring career in 2016 at the rookie-ball level. She reached the Triple-A level in 2023, and then in 2024 she became the first female ump to work a spring-training game since Ria Cortesio in 2007. Later in the 2024 season, Pawol was named a Triple-A crew chief and added to the call-up list for the major-league level. That history-making call-up came Saturday after Pawol had worked more than 1,200 games at every rung of the minor leagues.
Prior to her baseball umpiring career, Pawol was a standout softball player at Hofstra University on Long Island. After her collegiate playing career, Pawol umpired NCAA softball from 2010-16 and was invited to the Umpire Training Academy after attending an MLB tryout camp in August of 2015.
