On August 9, 2025, Jen Pawol will step onto the field at Truist Park in Atlanta, becoming the first woman to umpire a regular-season Major League Baseball (MLB) game. Assigned to the Marlins-Braves series, Pawol’s debut marks a historic milestone, breaking a gender barrier in a sport where women have long been underrepresented in officiating roles. Her journey to this moment reflects years of dedication, resilience, and a passion for baseball that has carried her from amateur fields to the cusp of the majors.
Born on December 29, 1976, in New Jersey, Jennifer Pawol grew up with baseball in her blood. As a young girl on Long Island, she dreamed of playing Little League, but societal norms of the 1980s pushed her toward softball instead. An all-state athlete in both softball and soccer at West Milford High School, Pawol earned a softball scholarship to Hofstra University. There, she excelled as a catcher, hitting .332 with 15 home runs and 102 RBIs over 161 games from 1996 to 1998, earning three-time all-conference honors. In 2001, she played for the U.S. women’s national baseball team at the Women’s Baseball World Series.
Pawol’s transition to umpiring began almost by chance. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute and a Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College, she worked as an art teacher while umpiring amateur softball games on the side. “I wasn’t really satisfied,” she told The Athletic. “Coming off of a huge competitive career, just playing locally, I wasn’t getting my fix.” Watching an umpire during a game sparked her calling: “I think that’s it. I got to go for that.”
Pawol’s umpiring career began in earnest in 2010, officiating NCAA softball games, including in the Big Ten Conference. In 2015, a pivotal moment came when MLB umpire Ted Barrett invited her to an MLB tryout camp in Cincinnati. Despite initial skepticism—“You know I’m a woman, right?” she asked Barrett—she attended and earned a spot at the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy in Vero Beach, Florida. By 2016, she was umpiring in the Gulf Coast League, becoming the first woman in nearly a decade to officiate in professional baseball.
Her ascent through the minor leagues was steady. Pawol moved from the New York/Penn League in 2017 to the Midwest League in 2018, eventually reaching Triple-A in 2023, where she became the first woman in 34 years to umpire at that level. In 2024, she served as a crew chief in Triple-A and was placed on MLB’s call-up list, positioning her for a potential major league debut. That year, she also umpired spring training games, the first woman to do so since Ria Cortesio in 2007.
Pawol’s call-up to the majors comes 27 years after the NBA, nine years after the NFL, and two years after the men’s soccer World Cup welcomed female officials. Her debut follows in the footsteps of pioneers like Pam Postema and Ria Cortesio, who umpired spring training games but never reached the regular season. Pawol is the seventh woman to umpire in the minors, alongside figures like Bernice Gera and Christine Wren, but she will be the first to officiate a regular-season MLB game.
“This is a viable career becoming a professional umpire—men and women, girls and boys,” Pawol told the Associated Press. Her focus remains on the job itself: getting each call right. “The male/female thing literally never went through my mind,” she said in an ESPN interview. “As an umpire, we have to hit 1.000 every night. The challenge of that is absolutely riveting.”
Pawol’s milestone has drawn praise from peers and observers. Crew chief Lance Barksdale, who worked with her during a 2024 spring training game, called it “a neat experience” and noted that she had “earned this opportunity.” Retired umpire Dale Scott, MLB’s first openly gay umpire, told NewsNation, “MLB is behind the curve in [having women officials]. That’s slowly changing, and with the coverage Jen is receiving, I anticipate there will be more women considering a professional umpire career.”
Pawol herself remains grounded, emphasizing performance over history. “Really, the only thing that matters is that I get the next play right,” she told MLB.com in 2024. Her work ethic and professionalism have earned her respect, with Blue Jays manager Cesar Martin noting after her 2016 debut, “She did a great job. Controlling the game, all these things. It was a nice game.”
Beyond umpiring, Pawol continues to inspire. She runs a training facility in Binghamton, New York, teaching young athletes baseball, softball, and umpiring skills. “I’m really proud of the kids who have come through, especially the ones that go into umpiring,” she said. Her story resonates as a testament to perseverance, challenging norms in a male-dominated field while encouraging others to follow.
As Pawol takes the field this weekend, wearing uniform number 95, she carries the weight of history but keeps her eyes on the game. Her debut is not just a personal triumph but a signal that baseball’s future is more inclusive. “It’s in my DNA,” she said. “Once I started umpiring, I said, ‘This is for me.’”
