As much as Major League Baseball touts its diversity and modernization efforts, it lags the other major professional sports leagues in America.
Jen Pawol will make history this weekend as the first woman to be an umpire in a regular-season MLB game, the league announced on Wednesday.
A woman referee first worked an NBA game 28 years ago, and the NFL’s first woman referee took the field in 2015.
In 2022, a woman refereed a men’s soccer World Cup game for the first time
Pawol will be an umpire during August 8-10 Florida Marlins-Atlanta Braves series in Atlanta, including both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader and the series finale on Sunday, when she will be behind home plate.
According to MLB, “Pawol has steadily climbed the umpiring ranks since beginning her career in Rookie ball in 2016.”
She reached Triple-A in 2023 and became the first woman to umpire that level’s championship game. In 2024, Pawol became the first female umpire in a Spring Training game since Ria Cortesio in 2007.
An MLB release failed to explain the 17-year gap from Spring Training appearances for a female umpire.