Last July, I wrote about Ria Cortesio, a 30-year-old female umpire who worked the Futures Game and the Home Run Derby during the 2006 All-Star festivities in Pittsburgh. Cortesio just got assigned a new gig: working a spring training exhibition game this Thursday in Mesa, Ariz. between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs. This is her ninth year as an umpire, and her fifth year in Double-A, but it will be the first time that she will be working a game with a major league umpire. She hopes to move up to Triple-A this season; she’s next in line when a vacancy opens up.
So what do the players think about a woman ump calling a game? Derrek Lee of the Cubs loves the idea. “I think it’s about time,” the Cubs’ Lee was quoted in a Chicago Tribune article. “Female eyes are as good as male eyes. Why can’t they be umpires?”
My sentiments exactly.
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