The eighth female umpire to ever work in an affiliated league debuts in June
Pam Postema (1977-1989)
Just as Christine Wren’s umpiring career ended, the most famous female umpire in baseball history came upon the scene. Pam Postema umpired from 1977 to 1989. Her goal was always to make it to the major leagues. In working towards that goal, she spent years in the minor leagues, far from the bright lights and big cities. The minor league life is not easy, for players or umpires. They aren’t well paid, they don’t get much money each day for food, and the travel is often by train, bus or car.
Postema had other issues to deal with because of her gender, ranging from harassment to outright hostility. She pushed through it all and reached the Triple-A level in 1983, just one step below the major leagues. In 1988, she worked the annual Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown and got good reviews from Atlanta Braves manager Chuck Tanner, who said, “I think she did an excellent job. She is a quality umpire.”
An official with the New York Yankees said she called a very good strike zone, saying she was “better than some of the men we have.” At the time, she was one of seven candidates to fill two vacant umpiring positions in the National League but didn’t get either spot.
Unfortunately, Triple-A would be as far as she would get. After 13 years in the minor leagues and seven in Triple-A, she was let go by MLB before achieving her career-long goal. Two years after her career ended, Postema wrote a scathing memoir, You’ve Got to Have Balls to Make It in This League. She also filed a sex-discrimination lawsuit against MLB that would be settled out of court. Despite not making it to the Major Leagues herself, Postema has said, “There will be female umpires and players—someday. It just takes time.”