It took eight years, but Jen Pawol made the jump from the minors to a major league spring training game as an umpire in the Grapefruit League opener between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals at CACTI Park of The Palm Beaches on Saturday.
Pawol’s spring training debut marked the first time a woman has umpired major league spring training since 2007, most recently done by Ria Cortesio.
Eight years ago, Pawol, a former New Jersey softball player who played at Hofstra, became only the seventh woman to umpire a minor league baseball game.
“I really appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm and everyone’s welcoming attitude on the field,” Pawol said after the 7-4 Astros win in front of 3,655 fans. “Tonight was very special. Both managers shared the congratulations, (everyone was) hospitable, enthusiastic. Many of the players on the field congratulated each other and it was nice to see you here. One gentleman, Javier (Bracamonte, Astros bullpen coach), ran off early in the game and said he has a daughter who plays all kinds of sports. It’s good to see you here. ”
In the coming weeks, Pawol, 47, will be in Palm Beach County to work other spring training games. No woman has ever been appointed to referee a regular-season game in the Majors.
On Sunday, Pawol will work behind the plate in Jupiter for the Nationals-Marlins game. She doesn’t have a timetable for when she might work a regular-season game.
With a set rotation for every three innings, Pawol switched to second base in the fourth. She then moved to first base in the seventh inning, where she saw most of the action. She called two consecutive Astros batters on groundouts in the top of the seventh. In her best call in the bottom of the seventh, Pawol made a safe move after Nationals’ Travis Blankenhorn appeared to beat a grounder to first base, which was bobbled.
“Tomorrow I have to go out and do it all over again,” Pawol said. “That’s my next job. “Anyone in baseball will tell you to keep it simple and work hard and do it all and prepare for the next day.”
MLB’s move comes 27 years after the gender barrier for game officials in the NBA was broken, nine years after the NFL ended and two years after the Men’s World Cup hired a female referee.
“This is a viable career as a professional referee – men and women, girls and boys,” she said. “I didn’t know that in the first few years, when I was a referee in amateur ball for ten years.”
Pam Postema, who worked in the 1970s and 1980s, became the first woman to referee spring training.
“It’s in my DNA,” Pawol said. “Once I started refereeing, I said this was for me.”
Crew chief Lance Barksdale called it “a fun experience.”
“It was a big deal for Jen,” Barksdale said. “She has earned this opportunity to come here. I told her in the sixth inning that we didn’t have much action initially, but all the supervisors can look at is the way you present yourself and get into position to make the call. She did very well. And later, she had close plays first and was able to get those plays. I don’t want her to put extra pressure on herself.