Jen Pawol to become first female MLB umpire in history

Photo Credit: Minda Haas Kohlmann. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

If you plan on heading to the Marlins-Braves series at Truist Park in Atlanta this weekend, prepare to witness history on the field.

No, it's not going to be made by anyone on the Marlins or the Braves. Instead, it will be an umpire.

For the first time in history, a woman will be umpiring a Major League Baseball regular season game.

Jen Pawol has been a Minor League Baseball umpire, reaching as high as the Triple-A championship game in 2023. She also umpired for MLB spring training in 2024 and 2025, becoming the first woman to umpire a spring training game since 2007. Her MLB regular season debut this weekend will also see her behind the plate during Sunday's matchup.

With Pawol's debut, it leaves only the National Hockey League as the lone major US sports league to have never had a female official. While there have been professional female hockey referees at lower levels, no woman has ever reached the NHL level in any form.

The NBA led the charge in 1997 with the hiring of Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner.

It's fitting that Pawol will make history in the Peach State, home to the first US Senator. Rebecca Latimer Felton was appointed to the US Senate by Governor Thomas W. Hardwick for one ceremonious day in 1922.

Though Pawol becomes the first female umpire on the field of an MLB game, she's not the first woman to be on the field during a game. Alyssa Nakken made history as the first female coach on the field as the first base coach for the San Francisco Giants during a 2022 game. She is currently a coach with the Cleveland Guardians.