She's out! Ria Cortesio, only female umpire in pro baseball, released
"I've been prepared for it, to some extent, for a long time," she told The Associated Press on Wednesday from her home in western Illinois. "But I was surprised a little bit."Cortesio spent nine years in the minors, the last five in the Double-A Southern League, and hoped someday to become the first female ump in the majors. In March, she worked a spring training game between the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Her mask made it to the Hall of Fame. She handled the Futures Game and Home Run Derby at the all-star game in Pittsburgh last year. She once was called out by George Steinbrenner for squeezing the strike zone when Roger Clemens made a rehab start.
Cortesio cut her ponytail several years ago and lowered her voice for making calls, trying to be more inconspicuous. At five-foot-10, she was slender - Prince Fielder once gently lifted her out of the way so he could charge the mound.
She was at her off-season job, helping run the music system at the arena where the Quad City Flames of the American Hockey League play, when she got a call Tuesday from minor league baseball's umpire organization.
"They let you know around the World Series about next year. If they want to keep you, they send a letter. If they're going to let you go, they call," she said. "When I saw the number on my cell phone, I thought, 'Whoa, this is it."'
Why did she get that call?
There were no vacancies and when the new ratings by minor league supervisors came out in mid-season, her ranking substantially dropped. So, too, did her chance of getting a promotion and possibly making it to the majors someday.
A move up would have greatly changed her status - umpires in Triple-A are under the auspices of major league supervisors.
"I don't know if they wanted to make a call on me in the majors," she said.
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