
MLB Speedway Classic live updates: Best photos, video from Braves-Reds at Bristol
The famed racetrack has been converted to host baseball for the showcase, with over 85,000 fans expected on hand for the first-of-its-kind event. MLB's previous attendance record was 84,587, a 1954 game in Cleveland featuring the New York Yankees.
"We're locked and loaded,' Reds pitcher Brent Suter said. 'I tell you who's locked in is the wives. We've got all these kids who are gonna be in like pit crew outfits. And wives with NASCAR boots and stuff.
'It's awesome,' Suter said. 'Their buy-in is off the charts.'
The evening should feature stunning visuals from the racetrack that opened in 1961 and can seat nearly 150,000 for motorsports:
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USA Today
17 minutes ago
- USA Today
Who is Jen Pawol, the first woman set to umpire in an MLB game?
Jen Pawol is set to make MLB history when she takes the field for the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves for a Saturday doubleheader between the two teams. Pawol will become the first woman to umpire in a regular-season MLB game during three games between the Marlins and Braves. After the two games of the doubleheader, she will then take the reigns as the home plate for the third game of the series on Sunday. The NBA had its first female referee 28 years and the NFL had its first female referee 10 years ago. But here is what you need to know about Pawol, who will etch her name in the history books with this momentous occasion. What is her background? Pawol played softball as a catcher at Hofstra University and then played Amateur Softball Association Major Fast Pitch. How long has Pawol umpired? Pawol was a longtime softball umpire, umpiring in the Big Ten Conference from 2013 to 2015, who went into umpiring full-time after attending the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy in 2016. She then attended the MiLB Advanced Curse in 2017 and began her professional career in the Gulf Coast League. She was a home plate umpire for the Triple-A National Championship Game in 2023. Are there other female umpires? Pawol is the third woman to umpire in spring training, following Pam Postema and Ria Cortesio. She is the first woman to umpire a Triple-A game in more than three decades and the seventh female umpire in Minor League Baseball history.


Newsweek
18 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Yankee Legends Floated to Replace Aaron Boone; Here's Who Would Really Get Job
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CBS News
18 minutes ago
- CBS News
MLB calling up first female umpire for Marlins-Braves games this weekend
Jen Pawol is set to become the first woman to umpire in Major League Baseball when she works games this weekend between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. Pawol will work the bases in Saturday's doubleheader at Truist Park and the plate on Sunday, an MLB spokesperson told CBS News on Wednesday. She's also scheduled to have the plate on Sunday. Pawol, a 48-year-old from New Jersey. attended Hofstra University, where she played softball. She worked spring training games in 2024 and this year. "Once I started umpiring, I was like, 'this is for me,'" Pawol said last year while working the Florida Grapefruit League. "I can't explain it. It's just in my DNA." Pawol previously attended MLB's Umpire Camps, a developmental initiative held around the country for the league's prospective umpires, MLB spokesperson Mike Teevan told CBS News. After the camps, Pawol became a Minor League umpire in 2016, and she will be making history as the first female umpire to work a regular MLB season game. MLB's move comes 28 years after the gender barrier for game officials was broken in the NBA, 10 years after it ended the NFL and three years after the men's soccer World Cup employed a female referee. The NHL still has not had a woman referee. Pawol in 2024 became the first woman to umpire big league spring training games since Ria Cortesio in 2007. Cortesio spent nine years in the minor leagues, including the last five in the Double-A Southern League, then was released after the 2007 season. Pawol was an all-state softball and soccer player in New Jersey for three seasons in each sport at West Milford High School. She went to Hofstra on a softball scholarship and became a three-time all-conference pick and was on the USA Baseball women's national baseball team in 2001. Pawol got a master's degree and was living in the Binghamton area of New York and taking teacher certification classes at Elmira College while still playing on the side. "I wasn't really satisfied," she said last year. "Coming off of a huge competitive career, just playing locally, I wasn't getting my fix. And I remember looking at the umpire and being like, I think that's it. I got to go for that." After umpiring NCAA softball from 2010-16, she attended an MLB umpire tryout camp in 2015, was invited to the Umpire Training Academy at Vero Beach, Florida, and was offered a job in the Gulf Coast League in 2016. Violet Palmer became the NBA's first woman referee when she worked Dallas' opener at Vancouver on Oct. 31, 1997, and Sarah Thomas was the NFL's first woman on-field official when she served as line judge for Kansas City's game at Houston on Sept. 13, 2015. Stéphanie Frappart of France became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup game when she worked Germany's 4-2 group stage win over Costa Rica on Dec. 1, 2022, and Rebecca Walsh became the first to referee in England's Premier League when she officiated Burnley's 2-0 win at Fulham on Dec. 23, 2023. MLB has 76 full-time staff umpires and uses fill-ins on crews for openings created by injuries and vacations.