For the first time in Major League Baseball history, a woman has served as an umpire during a regular season game.
Jen Pawol worked three games over the weekend between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves.
The 48-year-old from West Milford, New Jersey has been working in the minor leagues for nearly a decade. She's called some 1,200 games there. And she told reporters she's wanted to be a Major League umpire for a decade.
Saturday she finally made her mark.
"It was pretty amazing when we took the field and it seemed like quite a few people had started clapping and saying my name and stuff so that was pretty intense and very very emotional," Pawol said.
While some fans at Truist Park on Saturday were unaware that something special was happening on the field, others showed up because they knew Pawol was about to make history.
Among those fans was Atlanta native Karen Schulze. She showed up with signs celebrating this historic moment, one featuring Pawol's name alongside those of Braves legends Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro. And another: "We r all dreamers."
"A little girl, a little boy, you know, regardless, has a dream, pursues it, the community supports it, and it gets there, they get the training, they work hard, and they get their dream," Schulze said. "We're celebrating the American Dream today."
Pawol worked three games over the weekend: a doubleheader on Saturday, during which she served as first base and third base umpire, and then on Sunday she made history by calling balls and strikes behind the plate.
Robin Delancey drove from Zanesville, Ohio, to see Jen Pawol make her debut, saying she couldn't wait to see her. She said Pawol's debut means "that there's room for everybody. There is opportunity for everybody, especially women. And she's doing it."
Players, too, remarked on the historic moment. The Braves' starting pitcher for the first Saturday game, Hurston Waldrep, has shared the field with Pawol in the minor leagues.
"Everyone probably told her it was impossible," he said. "But to be a part of that -- and they made a big deal out of it, as it should be -- that's pretty cool for her."
Major League Baseball is late among professional sports to break this gender barrier. More than 50 years ago, the first woman umpired a minor league game, only working one game, and she had to sue for the right to do that. There have been just a few other women working games in the minors since.
Meanwhile, the NBA has had female referees since the late '90s and the NFL had a woman officiate about a dozen years ago.
MLB did not look backward in its official remarks about Jen Pawol breaking the gender barrier for umpires. Of the historic moment, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said, "She has earned this opportunity, and we are proud of the strong example she has set, particularly for all the women and young girls who aspire to roles on the field."
For now, Jen Pawol said she's working day-to-day, hoping for new Major League assignments. But the black cap that the first female umpire wore during her debut is headed for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., so it's a guarantee that Jen Pawol found her place in history.