Jen Pawol

Jennifer Pawol (born December 29, 1976) is an American baseball umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB). She became the first female umpire in MLB when she debuted on August 9, 2025. She is the seventh woman to work as a professional baseball umpire. Since she was called up to MLB, she has worn uniform number 95. She was paid $15 per game.

In 2001, she was part of the gold medal winning United States team (the precursor to the United States women's national baseball team) in the Women's Baseball World Series, which was the first recognized international women's baseball tournament. Pawol also donated her umpire's mask to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

During the 2023 season, she worked at the Triple-A level in both the International League and the Pacific Coast League, and was the home plate umpire during the Triple-A National Championship Game. She was the first female umpire to work at the Triple-A level in 34 years.

In 2024, Pawol became the third woman to umpire in spring training, after Pam Postema and Ria Cortesio. Pawol calls both Postema and Cortesio her mentors. She was the third base umpire during a game between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals. She was a crew chief in Triple-A during the 2024 baseball season. In March, it was reported that Pawol was placed on Major League Baseball'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.

Major League Baseball On August 9, 2025, Pawol made her MLB debut, becoming the first woman to umpire an MLB game during the regular season. She appeared as the first base umpire in the first game of a doubleheader between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta, joining crew chief Chris Guccione at second base, Chad Whitson at third and David Rackley at home plate. She was third base umpire in the second game of the doubleheader. She continued as an umpire on Sunday, August 10, becoming the first female home plate umpire in an MLB regular-season game, in another game between the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins.

Pawol donated the cap she wore while umpiring her first MLB game on August 9 to the National Baseball Hall of Fame museum.