Alum Umpires World Series Game 7

It's been quite the year for Bethel alum Jeff Nelson.

This summer the Major League Baseball (MLB) umpire was invited to be the home plate umpire at the 2014 MLB All-Star Game held in his home state of Minnesota and several weeks ago he was also announced as a member of the 2014 MLB World Series crew.

But Nelson has reached perhaps the pinnacle of professional umpiring now that he was named the home plate umpire for game seven in the MLB World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals.

Nelson graduated from Bethel in 1987 with a degree in history. He is in his 17th year as an umpire in the MLB and he previously worked the 2005 and 2009 World Series. Prior to his time in the big leagues, Nelson worked for 10 years in the Minor League system and spent his first season with the Pioneer League—a rookie league in Utah. Throughout his career Nelson has not only worked in three World Series, but he has also been a part of five league championship series and five division series.

In an interview earlier this summer Nelson noted, "Being a student at Bethel was the first time I had to leave home and live on my own. The institution helped me identify who I wanted to be and how I wanted to live outside the comfort of home. Now that I travel all of the time, I see how much Bethel shaped me to be a man of integrity, especially while being on the road."