Jennifer Pawol (born December 29, 1976) is an American

baseball umpire In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling disciplinary actions. The term is ofte ...

who currently works in

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

(MiLB), and is on the call-up list for

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. She is just the seventh woman to work as a professional baseball umpire.

Early life

Attending West Milford High School in

West Milford, New Jersey West Milford is a township in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 24,862, a decrease of 988 (−3.8%) from the 2010 census count of 25,850, which in turn reflec ...

, Pawol played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, attending

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

on an athletic scholarship and playing as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

in Division-I softball for the

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

. It was during this time that she began umpiring softball games. In 2001, she participated in the

Women's Baseball World Series The Women's Baseball World Series was an international tournament in which originally national women's baseball teams from around the world competed, before being overtaken by the Women's Baseball World Cup in . It was sanctioned by the Internation ...

as a member of the

United States women's national baseball team The United States women's national baseball team represents the United States in international women's baseball competitions. It is controlled by USA Baseball and is a member of the Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE). Rosters Cur ...

. Before going into professional umpiring, Pawol was an art teacher. She is a graduate of the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

( B.F.A.) and

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

( M.F.A.). During this time, she continued to umpire part-time in amateur softball leagues.

Umpiring career

After umpiring softball games part-time for 11 years, Pawol decided to go into umpiring full-time. In 2016, she attended the

Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy The Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy provides umpire training and development for umpires in Minor League Baseball since 2012. Since Minor League Baseball Umpire Development's inception in 1997, every umpire hired by Major League B ...

Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the county seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,354. Nicknamed "The Hibiscus City", Vero is situated about south ...

. Her performance at the academy led to a spot in the MiLB Advanced Course which she completed in 2017. That same year, she began her professional baseball career in the

Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the low ...

. During the 2023 season, she worked at the Triple-A level in both the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

and the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, and was the home plate umpire during the

Triple-A National Championship Game The Triple-A National Championship Game is a single interleague postseason baseball game between the league champions of the two affiliated Triple-A leagues of Minor League Baseball (MiLB)—the International League (IL) and Pacific Coast Leagu ...

. She was the first female umpire to work at the Triple-A level in 34 years. In 2024, Pawol became only the third woman to umpire in

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

, after

Pam Postema Pamela Postema (born April 1954 in Willard, Ohio) is an American former baseball umpire. In 1988 she became the first female baseball umpire to officiate a Major League Baseball spring training game. For her unique contributions to the game, she ...

and

Ria Cortesio Ria Cortesio is an American former baseball umpire, working games at the Double A level. In 2007, she became the first woman since Pam Postema in 1989 to work a Major league exhibition game. The 2007 season was her ninth and final professional se ...

. She was the third base umpire during a game between the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

and the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

. She was a crew chief in Triple-A during the 2024 baseball season. In March, it was reported that Pawol was placed on

's call-up list for the 2024 season, meaning that she could be called up to the majors in the event a full-time Major League umpire is not available. She was selected to work spring training again in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, and will wear uniform number 95 as an MLB call-up.

References

External links

Jen Pawol
at

MLB.com MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (a subsidiary of MLB). MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports colum ...

Living people 1970s births Year of birth missing (living people) American women referees and umpires Hofstra Pride softball players Hunter College alumni Minor league baseball umpires People from West Milford, New Jersey Pratt Institute alumni Softball players from New Jersey Soccer players from Passaic County, New Jersey West Milford High School alumni Women baseball umpires {{baseball-bio-stub

Early life

Umpiring career

See also

References

Further reading

External links