The eighth female umpire to ever work in an affiliated league debuts in June
Theresa Cox (1989-1991)
Near the end of Postema’s career, another female umpire arrived. She was known as Theresa Cox at the time, but goes by Theresa TLC Fairlady today. In the spring of 1989, she graduated fifth in a class of 180 from Harry Wendelstedt’s Florida umpiring school. Wendelestedt had been a major league umpire for many years and said Fairlady was “the best female candidate I’ve ever had.”
Wendelstedt also claimed there wasn’t a bias against female umpires, saying it was a “pipeline problem,” that there just haven’t been enough women in the pipeline leading to the major leagues. He also added, “I don’t know why a young lady would want this job.”
That sentence is like fingernails on a chalkboard to any woman who ever wanted to enter a male-dominated field. Why would a woman want to be a police officer? Why would a woman want to be in the armed forces? Why would a woman want to be an MMA fighter? It’s very much a “good old boys” way of thinking and that attitude has likely been one reason so few women have umpired in professional baseball.
During her three years in organized baseball from 1989 to 1991, Fairlady faced her share of difficulties because of archaic attitudes. She was told her voice sounded too high when she called strikes early in her career. When she used a deeper voice, she was told it sounded too phony. She was criticized for the way the umpire uniform looked on her, despite the fact that numerous male MLB umps look less-than-stellar in their umpire uniforms. One of her supervisors questioned whether she was “queer.” Another said women in baseball were a joke.
Like Pam Postema, at the end of her career Theresa Fairlady filed a lawsuit against baseball. Postema charged MLB with employment discrimination. Fairlady’s lawsuit alleged harassment and abuse by male umpires. Both cases were settled in 1993 and Postema and Fairlady agreed not to reveal the terms of the financial settlement but said they were satisfied with the outcome.