NEW YORK -- Jen Pawol was in the middle of umpiring a Triple-A game Wednesday night when Nashville Sounds third baseman Oliver Dunn identified some exciting common ground between them.
“When I make it to the big leagues and we get on the field together, we will have both worked all the levels together on the field,” he said to Pawol.
Indeed, after working over 1,200 Minor League games across every affiliate level over the past 10 seasons, Pawol and MLB players are “on the field together.”
Pawol was at first base in Game 1 of the Marlins-Braves doubleheader and will be at third base for the nightcap (Game 2 is available with an MLB.TV subscription). In the series finale on Sunday (FREE on MLB.TV, 1:35 p.m. ET), she'll be behind home plate. The doubleheader necessitated adding a fifth umpire to the crew, since each home-plate umpire skips the other game they’re not working.
Pawol is the first woman to umpire in a regular-season Major League game, but far from the first with those aspirations.
Pam Postema made it as far as MLB Spring Training games in 1988-89, but never received a true callup. Christine Wren and Ria Cortesio both umpired in the Minors, but their paths stalled at Double-A. Those three have all served as mentors and sources of inspiration for Pawol along her pro ball path, which began in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2016.
Though the numbers have grown slightly, only eight women are umpiring in the Minors today, for whom Pawol represents a beacon of hope and progress.
Across the board, baseball has been cheering for Pawol the whole way. In a Zoom call on Thursday, Pawol spoke about a memorable interaction with Adam Wainwright while the longtime Cardinals pitcher was on a rehab assignment a couple of years ago.
“It was my first year in Triple-A, and I was going around doing the pitcher checks for foreign substances,” Pawol said. “And I was on the plate, and he's pitching, so I got to do my job. And I went up to him to do the pitcher check. And right off the bat, he said, ‘Jen, I just want you to know that I have daughters, and I think this is so cool, and I'm rooting for you, and good luck.’”
Pawol also called out vocal support from Astros manager Joe Espada. While she was umpiring a Yankees-Astros Spring Training game earlier this year, he told her, “This is your year. You're gonna do it. It's gonna happen.” The support at the Major League level has been widespread, from players and managers to MLB umpire Ted Barrett, who originally invited Pawol to try out for the MLB Umpire Camps program over 10 years ago.
“Umpiring is for me. It's in my DNA,” Pawol said. “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.”
Pawol is now part of a slowly expanding group of female officials at the highest level of men’s sports that includes the NFL’s Sarah Thomas, who reached out to Pawol recently with advice and words of encouragement.
On the call, Pawol emphasized the importance of MLB women umpire representation as both breaking a longstanding barrier in baseball and moving the cause forward for women refs in other pro sports. It’s a small, well-respected and determined group at the moment, but there are more in the pipeline.
“I'm aware of the gravity. I'm aware of the magnitude,” said Pawol, who had 30 friends and family at her first game on Saturday. “I believe that I'm going to be a very good steward and representative for young girls and women, and boys and men, that this is possible.”
Pawol referred to her career in pro ball as essentially a “10-year interview process” for this opportunity. But with only 76 MLB umpires, openings at the highest level are few and far between. To earn a full-time role, most who make it to Triple-A have to wait for someone to retire to get their shot.
As one of 17 Triple-A umpires eligible for substitutions in MLB games, Pawol waited her turn like everybody else in her position because she loved umpiring that much. She paid her dues for a decade in the Minor Leagues, like so many of her male predecessors, just for a chance on the biggest stage.