August 9, 2025: Jen Pawol becomes first woman to umpire MLB game as Braves defeat Marlins

It’s rare for an umpire to receive more advance press coverage than any member of the competing teams.1 It happened in 2021, when Joe West set a new big-league record for games umpired. Jen Pawol’s August 9, 2025, debut as the first woman to umpire a major-league regular-season game also triggered that level of media coverage. For example, the front page of the Augusta Chronicle sports section included the headline “History to be Made with First Female Ump,” covering her career and comparing her situation to the first female officials in other sports. 2

A professional umpire since 2017 and at Triple A since 2023, the 48-year-old Pawol had umpired major-league spring training games3 and had been added to the roster of potential substitute umpires earlier in 2025,4 so the debut felt inevitable. Other major North American men’s sports leagues had employed female officials for league play decades earlier—NBA in 1997, MLS in 1998, and NFL in 2012—but the closest big-league baseball had come before Pawol was Pam Postema umpiring spring training games in 1988 and Ria Cortesio in 2007.5

The long-anticipated occasion arrived during the opener of a Saturday split-admission Atlanta Braves-Miami Marlins doubleheader, part of a five-game weekend series at Atlanta’s Truist Park. In a doubleheader the umpire working the plate in the first game doesn’t work the second game, hence the need for an additional umpire.6 Miami won the series opener on August 7, and Atlanta won on Friday night. Neither team was in contention: the Marlins (57-58) and Braves (48-67) were in third place and fourth place, respectively, in the National League East Division.7

After their discussion of Hurston Waldrep as the starting pitcher, the Atlanta TV broadcast mentioned Pawol’s historic debut. Miami’s TV broadcast introduction focused solely on Pawol, who was umpiring at first base.

A typical crowd of 35,664 8showed up at Truist Park on a pleasant summer afternoon to see a pair of rookie pitchers—and watch Pawol make history. She received a loud round of applause when she was announced and ran out on the field. Fans brought signs supporting her, which were captured by the TV broadcasts.9

Waldrep (1-0, 1.59 ERA) was making his first start of the season for the Braves. Six days earlier, on August 3, the 23-year-old right-hander had picked up the win in relief when Atlanta beat the Cincinnati Reds at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.10 The Atlanta broadcasters noted that Waldrep, the Braves’ first-round draft selection from the University of Florida in 2023, had added a curveball and split-finger fastball over the offseason. He was off to a promising start: two strikeouts (both on his splitter) and a lineout and he was out of the inning.

Miami had called up 26-year-old Ryan Gusto as the 27th man for the doubleheader. It was his Marlins debut after coming to Miami in July 31 trade deadline deal with the Houston Astros.11  Gusto, too, worked a one-two-three first inning.

Waldrep pitched another clean inning in the second, including Pawol’s first “out” call at first on a 6-3 groundout.

The scoring started in the bottom of the second. Sean Murphy was hit by a pitch and took third on Michael Harris II’s double into the right-field corner. Two productive outs put the Braves ahead: Murphy scored on Ozzie Albies’ slow roller to second, and Harris scored on Eli White’s lineout to left. Nacho Alvarez Jr. struck out to end the inning with the score 2-0, Atlanta.

In the top of the third, Troy Johnston was the Marlins’ first baserunner. He bunted to third, where Alvarez grabbed the ball, dropped it, and didn’t attempt a throw. The Braves turned Javier Sanoja’s grounder to short into a force play, but second baseman Albies’ relay to first was wild and Sanoja was safe. After Graham Pauley walked, however, Waldrep fielded Xavier Edwards’s comebacker and started a 3-6-1 double play, ending the rally and the inning.

Atlanta loaded the bases with no outs in the third—and scored only one run. Nick Allen singled, Jurickson Profar walked, and Matt Olson grounded an infield single to second. Drake Baldwin hit a line drive to center to score one run. With the bases still loaded, Murphy grounded toward third, where Pauley had a good angle to throw home for the force out. Miami catcher Liam Hicks threw quickly to first, but Pawol called Murphy safe on her first close play. Miami reviewed the replay but did not challenge. Harris popped out, too shallow to score a run, and Albies struck out to leave the bases loaded with Atlanta leading, 3-0.

The highlight of the fourth inning (which was otherwise six up, six down) was a defensive play by Profar. Miami’s Agustín Ramírez flied to deep left—so deep that the ball was over the 6-foot12 wall. But Profar did his best Spiderman imitation—scaled the wall, reached over, and brought the ball back for the out.

There was no scoring in the fifth. Atlanta had two baserunners on a walk and an error, but Harris flied out. Pawol had a call to make at first on the error, as the throw from shortstop Sanoja pulled first baseman Johnston off the bag. Again, no challenge.

Miami scored its lone run in the sixth. Sanoja doubled to left. With one out, Edwards celebrated his 26th birthday by singling to right to score Sanoja. Atlanta pitching coach Rick Kranitz paid a mound visit—apparently effective, as Waldrep induced a pop out and a groundout to end the inning.

Gusto finished his six innings with another one-two-three inning, including two more strikeouts, bringing his total to eight for the day. He was sent back to the minors the next day,13 although he returned to pitch two more games for Miami later in August.

Waldrep started the seventh at 84 pitches. After Hicks singled, Atlanta manager Brian Snitker called on reliever Pierce Johnson. Johnson allowed a single to Jakob Marsee but shut down the potential Miami rally with a double play and a lineout.

Atlanta’s and Miami’s TV broadcasters used their seventh inning stretch time to discuss Pawol, mentioning that she had 30 friends and family in the stadium. She had started umpiring in high school, was a standout softball player at Hofstra University, went to umpire school in 2016, and had been working her way up the ladder since then.14

George Soriano15 pitched the seventh for Miami, and Atlanta put the game out of reach. A one-out walk and a single put two on for Baldwin, whose groundball single to center scored Atlanta’s fourth run. One out later, Harris homered into the Atlanta bullpen in center field, his 11th of the season. The next Braves pitcher, Dylan Lee, was warming up in the bullpen, and he caught Harris’ homer. Albies flied out, but the score was 7-1, Atlanta.

Lee pitched a clean top of the eighth on eight pitches.

Tyler Zuber, who had been called up when Anthony Bender went on the paternity list,16 also worked a clean inning, although it took him 12 pitches. Unlike Gusto, he was not returned to the minors, staying up with the Marlins for August.17

The top of the ninth was uneventful—Ramírez reached on an error by third baseman Alvarez, but he was left at second.

As the players ran off the field after the game, the cameras followed Pawol—still sporting an ear-to-ear grin. After the game, she said “The dream actually came true today. I’m still living in it. I’m so grateful to my family and Major League Baseball for creating such an incredible work environment. . . I’m just so thankful.”18

She sent her cap to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.19

She moved across the diamond to third base for the second game of the doubleheader, an 8-6 Atlanta win. Pawol was behind home plate for the Braves’ series-closing win on August 10, and she umpired a total of 18 big-league games in 2025.

Author’s Note

Jen Pawol worked the plate at the Washington Nationals-Chicago White Sox game I attended on September 26, 2025. Given the Nationals’ dismal 2025 record, watching Pawol was a definite source of excitement among the fans. “Wait a minute, the ump has a ponytail! That’s her!” “Spell her name for my scorebook!” and “About time!” were among the comments in our section.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Troy Olszewski and copy-edited by Keith Thursby.

Photo credit: Jen Pawol, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources in the endnotes, the author referred to Retrosheet.org and Baseball Reference.com and watched the TV broadcasts of the game on MLB.tv.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2025/B08091ATL2025.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL202508091.shtml

Notes

1 This refers to coverage in advance of the game being played, not post-game coverage of an event involving an umpire.

2 When Joe West set the major league record for games umpired on May 25, 2021, there were fewer articles mentioning it (108) on Newspapers.com than there were mentioning Jen Pawol’s debut (195 on August 8 and 110 on August 9). Many were reprints of the John Leuzzi article for USA Today Network. See, for example, John Leuzzi, “History to be made with first female ump,” Augusta Chronicle, August 8, 2025: 1B. The articles were solely about her—none mentioned the starting pitchers. Bernice Gera’s minor-league debut in 1972 had 82 mentions in advance and 248 the day after—probably increased because she quit umpiring after her first game.

3 Gabriel Burns, “Umpire is Breaking Baseball’s Glass Ceiling,” Atlanta Constitution, August 8, 2025: C1.

4 David Lennon, “Pawol Will Ump Spring Training Games Again,” (New York) Newsday, February 21, 2025: A55.

5 Kevin Baxter, “Pawol to Become First Woman to Umpire Regular-season MLB Games,” Fresno Bee, August 8, 2025: B1.

6 The afternoon game was a makeup of the April 6 game, which had been postponed due to rain. In a doubleheader the umpire working the plate in the first game doesn’t work the second game, hence the need for an additional umpire for doubleheaders. This provision has been in the umpires’ Collective Bargaining Agreement since at least 2005 (email from Umps Care with author, May 5, 2026). The other umpires on the crew with her were Crew Chief Chris Guccione, David Rackley, and Chad Whitson.

7 They finished the 2025 season in the same positions: Miami 17 games and Atlanta 20 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.

8 Atlanta’s home attendance for 2025 was 2,903,167 for an average game attendance of 35,842.

9 Sample signs included “Here for the ump show!” and “Go Jen!”

10 He had started two games for the Braves in 2024, with a 0-1 record and a 16.71 ERA.

11 Gusto was acquired, with Chase Jaworsky and Esmil Valencia, for Jesús Sánchez.

12 “Truist Park,” BR Bullpen, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Truist_Park, accessed May 3, 2026.

13 “Transactions,” Houston Chronicle, August 11, 2025: B7.

14 Jordan McPherson, “Jen Pawol is About to Make History as MLB’s First Female Umpire,” Miami Herald, August 8, 2025: 13A.

15 Soriano, already sporting an unsightly 7.97 ERA, increased it to 8.28 with this outing. He was returned to the minors before pitching again. He returned to the majors in September, pitching to a 7.04 ERA for that month.

16 “Transactions,” Arizona Daily Star, August 10, 2025: C4.

17 In his last major league game on August 29, he faced 10 batters and gave up  seven runs. He was placed on the injured list the next day. “Transactions,” Staten Island Advance, August 31, 2025: C2.

18 Associated Press, “N.J. Native Pawol 1st Female Ump to Work Regular Season MLB Game,” New York Daily News, August 10, 2025: 64.

19 CBS News, “Jen Pawol Makes MLB History as First Female Umpire, Donates Cap to Hall of Fame,” August 10, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jen-pawol-mlb-history-first-female-umpire/.