Interview With Illinois Native And MLB Umpire Mark Carlson
Major League Baseball Umpire Mark Carlson, a former player at Parkland College and native of Joliet, Illinois. (Major League Baseball)
Mark Carlson was involved in sports throughout his youth, including two years behind the plate at Parkland College in Champaign. But the former college baseball player and Joliet native recognized by his 1989 graduation that he wouldn’t have a career as an athlete.
Yet Carlson has still spent more than 13 years coming to the ballpark – as major league umpire. His first time in the majors was working a Cubs-White Sox interleague series in 1999.
Fresh off working the National League Championship Series, Illinois Public Media's Jeff Bossert talked with Carlson about his career – and the pressure on umps to make the right call.