cover image You've Got to Have Balls to Make It in This League: My Life as an Umpire

You've Got to Have Balls to Make It in This League: My Life as an Umpire

Pam Postema. Simon & Schuster, $20 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-671-74772-5

Postema, raised on an Ohio farm, was among the first women to umpire in professional baseball. She worked from 1977 until 1989, beginning at the lowest level in the Gulf Coast League, and then moved steadily upward through A, AA and AAA ball, umpiring in the Pacific Coast League, the American Association and the Triple A Alliance. As we're shown here, there seems little doubt that her gender prevented her from reaching the majors, for Postema had to battle not only the demands of the job but also macho posturing and sexist remarks from players, managers and even fellow umpires. In this hard-hitting, revealing expose written with freelancer Wojciechowski, she relates the sorry tale and names plenty of bad guys. Most recently Postema has been driving a truck. Photos not seen by PW. (May)