Former Chester High School baseball standout, Matt McCoy, recently umpired a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
McCoy, who works as a professional umpire in Class A ball, was the crew chief July 7 when the Peoria Chiefs (Chicago Cubs affiliate) played a home game at Wrigley against the Kane County Cougars (Oakland Athletics affiliate).
“It was a great expereince,” said McCoy. “I grew up a huge Cubs fan and it was like a dream come true.”
Wrigley Field was the first major professional stadium McCoy has umpired at so far in his young professional career.
McCoy graduated from Jim Evans’ Academy of Professional Umpiring in February 2008 and got his start in professional ball in June of that year in the Rookie Ball Gulf Coast League in Florida.
To work his way to the major leagues, McCoy will have to advance through a total of six different levels in the minor leagues. To get to the majors it takes somewhere around 10-12 years on average.
Matt is the son of Glen and Betty McCoy of Ellis Grove.