Bernice Gera

Bernice Shiner Gera (June 15, 1931 – September 23, 1992) was an American baseball umpire. She became the first woman to umpire a professional baseball game in 1972, retiring after one game citing the resentment of other umpires.

Life

Born in Ernest, Pennsylvania, as one of five children, Gera loved baseball as a child and grew up playing as an outfielder and umpiring games. She never considered a career in baseball until she was already in her mid-thirties, married, living in Jackson Heights, New York, and working as a secretary. According to a ''Time'' article, the idea to become an umpire just suddenly hit her one night and saw her work umpiring games in slums as "a form of social welfare", as having a woman on the field would lead to "less trouble" and encourage other women to attend the games. Gera sold her husband, a free-lance photographer, on the idea and enrolled in the Florida Baseball School in 1967.

As umpiring had been a strictly male profession up to that point, the school had no facilities for Gera, and she spent much of the six-week program living in a nearby motel. By several reports, she excelled in her training, yet Gera was rejected by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), which claimed that she did not meet the physical requirements of the job. Baseball executive Ed Doherty claimed that umpires needed to be 21 to 35 years old, a minimum of tall, and weigh at least , while Gera was 38 years old, , and weighed . Gera even had prior experience umpiring for the National Baseball Congress in Bridgeton, New Jersey

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