Former Hofstra softball star Jen Pawol umpires Yankees game behind the plate
Baseball Umpire Jen Pawol officiates over today’s spring training game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. March 1, 2025. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
TAMPA, Fla. — Aaron Boone, now in his eighth year of managing the Yankees, has been known to get on a plate umpire or two.
Which is akin to saying you might run into a bit of traffic driving on the BQE.
Boone is fourth among active managers in ejections with 39, trailing Bruce Bochy (86), Bob Melvin (64) and back-in-the-game Terry Francona (50).
But the 39 really comes into focus when one considers that Boone has managed in 1,032 career games compared to 4,356 for Bochy, 3.622 for Francona and 3,104 for Melvin.
All of which is to say it was no surprise when Boone chirped a bit — though it barely registered on the Boone-Umpire Richter scale — on a called third strike against Aaron Judge in Saturday’s first inning (the pitch did appear a tad high).
Calling the pitch behind the plate?
Former Hofstra softball star Jen Pawol, who is trying to become the first woman to umpire a game in the major leagues.
Last year, Pawol, who attended umpire school in 2015 and began umpiring in the minors in 2016, became the first woman since Ria Cortesio in 2007 to umpire a major-league spring training game.
Pawol, who is 48, spent 2024 as a crew chief in Triple-A, putting her on the doorstep of a call to the majors.
Big-league umpires receive four weeks of vacation time in-season, and roughly 20 — give or take a few either way — minor-league umpires receive call-ups to take their place (or, as happens frequently, when injuries to their major-league brethren occur).
Pawol, eligible for one of those calls last season, did not receive one, but her time would seem to be coming as she generally has gotten favorable reviews.
Including, incidentally, by Boone.
“I actually kind of went up and introduced myself to her later in the game,” he said. “Had a pleasant interaction with her. She has a good reputation.”
Boone smiled.
“I thought she missed a couple of calls on the captain [Judge] that first,” he said. “But overall I thought she did a good job, and certainly enjoyed my introduction to her.”
One of Major League Baseball’s top umpire supervisors, Charlie Reliford, a veteran of 20 big-league seasons and an umpire supervisor since 2010, was in attendance Saturday, as he was on Friday night when Pawol worked the bases.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
