Jen Pawol to become first woman to umpire an MLB game

New Jersey native Jen Pawol will make history this weekend as the first woman to umpire a game in Major League Baseball. 

She will be on the bases during a doubleheader on Saturday between the Braves and Marlins at Truist Park in Atlanta and behind the plate for the series finale on Sunday. 

Pawol, 48, was born and raised in West Milford, N.J., before playing softball and soccer at Hofstra University on Long Island. 

After playing catcher in college and umpiring for more than a decade at the amateur level, Pawol made her umpiring debut in the minors in the Gulf Coast League in 2016. 

In 2023, she worked at the Triple-A level, becoming the first woman to umpire at Triple-A in 34 years. 

Last year, Pawol became the first female to umpire a spring training game since 2007 before being placed on MLB’s Umpire Call-Up list. 

“I love being on the field the whole time. It’s in my DNA,” Pawol told MLB.com before her spring training debut in 2024. “Catching and playing multiple sports throughout my career, catching a little bit on the side and things like that, all of that has culminated to help me be ready to be an umpire. This is my 18th year — 10 in amateur and eight now in pro. It’s just sort of all coming together and once I started umpiring, I said, ‘This is for me.’ I can’t explain it.”

MLB is the third of the four major American sports leagues to have a female game official, following the NBA 28 years ago and the NFL 10 years ago.

“This is a viable career becoming a professional umpire – men and women, girls and boys,” Pawol said last year. “I didn’t know that the first several years when I got into umpiring in amateur ball for 10 years.”