The world is changing in many ways. There have been major changes to the sports front. Female athletes and coaches are coming more frequently. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers have female position coaches. The Buccaneers were part of the staff that helped the team win the Super Bowl in which a home team hosted for the first time in NFL history. In that same game, there was a female official. Her name was Sarah Thomas, a line judge. I know many will say it does not matter but this is big for women in sports. Football is a sport that has not seen many women It’s a major move for one to be an official during the biggest game in football. We also have a female general manager in MLB and coaches in the NBA.
The question is when are we going to see a female umpire in MLB? Till this point, there has never been one at the major league level. Jen Pawol has spent 10 years umpiring high school, youth baseball, NCAA, and women’s pro softball. She got the opportunity to umpire a Detroit Tigers spring training game. The ballpark has a female changing room for umpires. She has also stated that if they do not have one she and her partner either take turns in the bathroom or put up a screen to be able to change. Pawol was scouted by MLB umpires before attending a clinic in August of 2015. She believes that her gender has kept her from getting to the major league level. Just like with all of the other major leagues, they are trying to fix that.
Pawol has seen Thomas, Natalie Sago, and Jenna Schroeder all represent their leagues at the major level. She said no one encouraged her over the 10 years she has spent to try and umpire in MLB. Ironically, it took till 2021 to celebrate all of these women doing these types of things. With spring training starting next week for baseball, let’s hope we see this for Pawol and many other female umpires. It matters to me because racism and sexism need to be gone in all walks of life. It should not matter what the sex, sexuality, or color of their skin is. There is no reason why we have not seen a female umpire in MLB. It’s time to have one and when it does happen it needs to be in the World Series.
To me, it’s nice to see women starting to become part of the main sports that men have dominated for a long time. Look for a female coach to be on the sidelines soon and something tells me we will see that before a female umpire in MLB. Both would be great, but it’s time for MLB to get with the program. The bad thing is the future of baseball is a question mark with the current CBA set to expire this December. If they are unable to come to an agreement, then the league might go on strike. The last time that happened it ruined baseball. That would not help Pawol and future female umpires come umpires for the MLB.
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