The ump is a lady
Today marks the 52nd anniversary of Bernice Gera winning her 1972 lawsuit against baseball, claiming her civil rights are being violated because she is not allowed to be an umpire in the minor leagues.
Gera, a homemaker originally from Indiana County, Pa., successfully completes umpire school in 1967 and finally in 1969 receives a contract with the New York-Penn League.
Her contract, though, is voided in less than a week without explanation, leading Gera in 1971 to file her lawsuit.
Gera wins her lawsuit 10 months later – 52 years ago today – and makes her debut on June 24, 1972, becoming the first female umpire in pro baseball.
Bernice Gera, Nolan Campbell
The 41-year-old Gera works the first game of a doubleheader between the Geneva Rangers and Auburn Phillies in upstate New York, making her debut a memorable one by ejecting Auburn manager Nolan Campbell in the fourth inning.
One game, though, is enough for Gera, who already is facing considerable resentment from other umpires for her trailblazing achievement.
She resigns in protest before the second game of the doubleheader after fellow umpire Doug Hartmayer refuses to come to her aid during her heated argument with Campbell during the fourth inning of the first game.
Gera never again umpires in affiliated baseball.
She would die in 1992 of kidney cancer.
Today, her uniform and pink whiskbroom may be found at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. – two hours east of where Gera umpires her one and only pro game in Geneva.
“Baseball has fought me for years,” Gera says shortly after walking away from the game. “In my heart I feel they have truly gone out of their way to hurt me because I am a woman.
“People have been calling me a quitter, but if I was a quitter I never would have fought it so long. … In a way, they succeeded in getting rid of me, but in a way I’ve succeeded too. I’ve broken the barrier. It can be done. I don’t care what people say now. People haven’t gone through what I’ve gone through. You have to experience it to understand it.”
Others have, following Gera’s lead in becoming women umpires in the male-dominated bastion of pro baseball.
Those others include Christine Wren, Shanna Kook, Perry Barber, Theresa Cox-Fairlady, Emma Charleswoth-Seiler, Ria Cortesio, Jen Pawol and Pam Postema with Postema becoming the first to reach Class AAA.
Jen Pawol in the Class A New York-Penn League in 2017 — 45 years after Bernice Gera’s one and only pro game in that league