{{Short description|American baseball umpire}} '''Ria Cortesio''' is an American former baseball umpire, working games at the Double A level. In 2007, she became the first woman since Pam Postema in 1989 to work a Major league exhibition game. The 2007 season was her ninth and final professional season and fifth at the Double A level.

== Umpiring career == Cortesio attended five-week umpire school.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Baseball's Leading Lady|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9911572|access-date=2021-12-31}}</ref> She began umpiring professionally in the minor leagues in 1999,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Minor league baseball is about to get its first female umpire since 2007|url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/minor-league-baseball-is-about-to-get-its-first-female-umpire-since-2007/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=CBSSports.com|date=21 June 2016 |language=en}}</ref> in the short-season Pioneer League.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Batterson|first=Steve|title=Cortesio cheers every call Pawol makes|url=https://qctimes.com/sports/baseball/professional/minor/midwest-league/cortesio-cheers-every-call-pawol-makes/article_4068ef5c-3c80-5808-9290-35f03a5e25bd.html|access-date=2021-12-31|website=The Quad-City Times|date=21 July 2018 |language=en}}</ref> In 2002, she began umpiring at the Double A level,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Minor league baseball is about to get its first female umpire since 2007|url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/minor-league-baseball-is-about-to-get-its-first-female-umpire-since-2007/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=CBSSports.com|date=21 June 2016 |language=en}}</ref> spending five seasons in the Southern League.<ref name=":1" />

She worked both the 2006 All-Star Futures Game and Home Run Derby.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2007-11-01|title=Baseball's only female umpire fired|url=https://www.chron.com/sports/rice/article/Baseball-s-only-female-umpire-fired-1844673.php|access-date=2021-12-31|website=Chron|language=en-US}}</ref>

On March 29, 2007, she became the first woman umpire to work in a Major League Baseball exhibition game since Postema in 1989, when she served alternately as the first and third base umpire in a spring training game between the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007-03-30|title=Female umpire works MLB exhibition game|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/spring2007/news/story?id=2818278|access-date=2021-12-31|website=ESPN.com|language=en}}</ref>

=== Allegations of sexism in termination === At the conclusion of the 2007 season, she was released. According to fellow umpire Kate Sargeant, Cortesio's male colleagues colluded against her to block her advancement to Triple A,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2011-04-21|title=Women Are Coming to Baseball, Like It or Not|url=https://blogs.fangraphs.com/women-are-coming-to-baseball-like-it-or-not/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=FanGraphs Baseball}}</ref> where she would have received major league supervision.<ref name=":1" /> Cortesio was the top-ranked Double-A umpire at the start of the 2007 season, meaning she would have been eligible for promotion to Triple-A had any umpires at that level retired;<ref name=":2" /> Sargeant alleges the Triple-A umpires colluded to not retire and thus not create an opening for Cortesio until the rankings were re-shuffled.<ref name=":3" /> By mid-season, when rankings were re-shuffled, hers had dropped from the top spot.<ref name=":2" /> According to FanGraphs, the minor leagues had a policy to fire any umpire not promoted after five years; since the 2007 season was her fifth, she was fired.<ref name=":3" />

== Legacy == Cortesio was the fifth female umpire in the history of the game, after Bernice Gera, Christine Wren, Postema, and Theresa Cox Fairlady.<ref name=":0" /> One of her masks is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2007-11-01|title=Baseball's only female umpire fired|url=https://www.chron.com/sports/rice/article/Baseball-s-only-female-umpire-fired-1844673.php|access-date=2021-12-31|website=Chron|language=en-US}}</ref>

She is supportive of other female umpires who have come after her.<ref name=":1" />

== Personal == Cortesio was born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1976, and is of Italian and Greek descent.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} She attended Rice University in Houston, Texas.<ref name=":2" />

After her work as a minor league umpire ended, she worked some college games and spent some time in Greece.<ref name=":1" /> As of 2018, she resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she has a desk job.<ref name=":1" />

==See also== *Women in baseball

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortesio, Ria}} Category:Living people Category:Minor league baseball umpires Category:Rice University alumni Category:1976 births Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American people of Greek descent Category:People from Davenport, Iowa Category:American women referees and umpires Category:Women baseball umpires