It's a five-hour drive from Miller Park in Milwaukee to Target Field, home of the 2014 All-Star Game.
Jeff Nelson, who was one of the umpires during the Brewers-Cardinals series over the weekend, was prepared to make the drive if his flight ran into inclement weather. The Cottage Grove native wasn't going to miss the opportunity to serve as the crew chief in the Twin Cities on Tuesday.
"It's like a Final Four, Super Bowl type of event — and it's right here where we grew up," Nelson said.
Nelson told Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Joe Torre that he'd love the opportunity to umpire an All-Star Game if it ever were held in Target Field. The same year he was promoted to a crew chief position he received the All-Star assignment, serving as the first base umpire
"I kind of feel a part of the whole thing," said Nelson, 49. "Growing up, the All-Star Game was always a larger-than-life event. I used to watch it as a kid and hope you'd have some kind of role in the game."
Nelson, who is in his 21st season, never expected umpiring to be his career. The last time the Midsummer Classic was held in the Twin Cities, in 1985, Nelson was completing his undergraduate degree in history at Bethel University, where he paid part of his tuition by umpiring high school games.
"I was paying attention to the umpires back then, but I didn't have plans to become a professional one," said Nelson, who still remembered that Larry McCoy was the plate umpire in the 1985 game.
Nelson briefly attended Pepperdine Law School but nixed his plan to become a lawyer and at 23 enrolled in an umpiring school in Florida run by veteran Joe Brinkman, who is from Holdingford, Minn.
