With the Super Bowl now over and the NFL season behind us, chatter about the upcoming baseball season is making its way back to sports radio and television. Instead of the usual headlines about free agency and the Spring Training schedule, this week’s headlines were dominated by women in sports. After celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day, MLB hired two women who will make history in the industry. Here’s more about Jen Pawol and Jenny Cavnar, two women blazing trails in Major League Baseball.
Photo Credits: Diamond Images / Getty Images
Who is Jen Pawol?
Jen Pawol, a 47-year-old from New Jersey, has been around baseball and athletics for most of her life. She graduated from Hofstra University, where she played softball and became a three-time all-conference pick. After obtaining a master’s degree, Pawol umpired for NCAA softball for six years. In 2016, however, she was approached by MLB umpires who convinced her to head to umpiring tryouts, where she got her first major league job. Pawol paid her dues in the minor league system and finally got to the AAA stage last season. This year, Pawol was promoted to a full spring training schedule and a crew chief of AAA for the regular season. As crew chief, she can be called up to the major leagues when a new umpire is needed. While women have umpired in the minors before her, she would become the first woman to be an umpire for a major league game if she were to be called up this season.
While women referees have been in the other major sports for the last few seasons, this is still a significant barrier that needs to be broken in major league baseball. Bringing in a woman to umpire would open up so many doors for women both on the field and behind the scenes, and Jen Pawol is only one face standing for this amazing feat.
Photo Credits: MLB Photos / Getty Images
Who is Jenny Cavnar?
Jenny Cavnar, a radio and television broadcaster, has been in the industry for over 20 years. She graduated from Colorado State University and played lacrosse while in school. After graduating, she spent years in Colorado as a radio reporter and interning for Denver’s NBC station. She then moved to California, where she spent time covering San Diego State University athletics and coaching lacrosse at UCLA. After moving into baseball full-time, Cavnar spent twelve years with the Colorado Rockies as the host of their pregame and postgame shows and as the backup play-by-play announcer. Now, Cavnar is showing that patience is worth it because she is now the first woman to become a primary play-by-play announcer in MLB. While legends like Suzyn Waldman and Jessica Mendoza have been doing commentary on the games for years now, this is the first time since 2018 that a woman has taken control of the play-by-play commentary (also Cavnar). While this has become normal in various sports, this is the first time a woman has gotten this much control over a broadcast for Major League Baseball. Cavnar will be in the booth for 76 games this season alongside former pitcher Dallas Braden.
Photo Credits: Vic Vela / CPR News
Edited By: Sarah Muñoz
Social Media Content Created By: Jenna Rose Weisenbach
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