MINOT, N.D. -- With virtual homecoming weekend underway, Minot State Athletics has had several former student-athletes go on to have impressive careers on and off the playing-field. Today, we caught up with a 2020 Minot State Hall of Fame inductee and former Major League Baseball umpire - Gary Cederstrom.
Q. Why did you choose Minot State University?
Cederstrom: I chose Minot State because I lived in Minot and I wanted to play baseball at the college.
Q. What are you doing now?
Cederstrom: I retired after working the 2019 Major League Baseball World Series. I split my time between a home in Indialantic, Florida, my home here in Minot, and my cabin on Lake Audubon. I now have time for all of the summer activities that I have missed out on for the past thirty years and get to spend more time watching my grandkids participate in all of their various activities.
Q. What did you do for a career after Minot State University?
Cederstrom: My entire career was spent as an umpire for Major League Baseball.
Q. During your 31+ years as an MLB umpire, what was your fondest memory?
Cederstrom: My fondest memory must be when I worked my first MLB game. It was a series in Chicago (White Sox vs. Twins) and the first game of the series was rained out. I had to wait an extra day to make my "big-league" debut.
Q. How did Minot State help you get to where you are professionally?
Cederstrom: I was able to officiate intramural and local sporting events, which ultimately led me to pursue a career in professional sports.
Q. What is your fondest memory of MSU Athletics?
Cederstrom: My fondest memory was when our baseball team won the district and regional championships and advanced to the area playoffs in Kansas during my junior year (1976).
Q. Did your impression of Minot State change from Day 1 to your last day?
Cederstrom: I was in awe of the institution when I first began attending Minot State. As time went on, I joined many different clubs, teams, and organizations, and began to view the college as my second home.
Q. What was your greatest skill set that helped you compete in college baseball?
Cederstrom: Probably accepting my role as a member of a team, meaning I was okay with sitting on the bench supporting the team or playing in the game to the best of my ability.
Q. Finally, have you been back to Minot State since you graduated?
Cederstrom: Having kept a home in Minot, I have returned to Minot State many times, usually for sporting events. I also enjoy catching up with some of the coaches and professors I had as a student and stopping in to chat with friends in the administration and the trainers in the athletic department.
Cederstrom was born in Bismarck, North Dakota and began his umpiring career in the Midwest League in 1979 and stayed in that circuit until 1981. He made his Major League debut as an umpire on a crew with Rick Reed, Al Clark, and Mark Johnson on June 2, 1989 at Comiskey Park in a game that resulted in an 8-0 win for the Twins over the White Sox. Cederstrom went on to ump 3,579 games in the majors over 31 years including one wild card game, seven Division Series, six League Championship Series, and three World Series.
In 2005, Cederstrom was an umpire in the World Series for the first time as the American League's Chicago White Sox swept the then National League's Houston Astros. Six years later in 2011, he was a part of the crew that officiated the seven-game World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers with the Cardinals being crowned as World Champions.
Cederstrom's final World Series assignment came in 2019 when the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in seven games to win their first title in franchise history. He worked four World Series during his career including the fall classics in 2005, 2011, and 2015.
Gary was a four-year letterwinner with the Minot State Baseball team from 1974-77 and was unanimously inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the 2020 Class. Cederstrom will be honored at the 2021 homecoming football game, alongside four other Hall of Fame members; including women's basketball head coach Sheila Green Gerding, the 2004-05 men's basketball team, football defensive lineman Ian Best, and softball pitcher Mandy Greenberg.
Now you can catch Gary Cederstrom officiating high school football games during the fall in Minot, North Dakota.
