D.J. Reyburn '99 Selected to Umpire Crew for the 119th World Series

D.J. Reyburn, pictured

A late-night chat at Kollen Hall led a former Hope College student-athlete to this year's Fall Classic.

D.J. Reyburn '99 has been selected for the seven-man umpire crew for the 119th World Series, Major League Baseball announced today. This is his first World Series assignment.

Game 1 between the American League champion Texas Rangers and the National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks is on Friday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. at Texas. FOX is broadcasting the World Series.

Reyburn will be the home-plate umpire for Game 1. He is scheduled to rotate assignments throughout the remainder of the World Series.

In a 2017 News from Hope College profile, Reyburn said his big-league dreams began during one late-night chat in a dorm room on the third floor of Kollen Hall.

A sophomore and a center fielder on the Hope College baseball team at the time, Reyburn and his roommate, Jay Leitz '99, "were sitting around, talking about life and the future and I said, 'If I could do anything for the rest of my life, I'd want to be a major league umpire," recalled Reyburn.

"And I'll never forget what he said. Jay goes, 'Oh, that's attainable. I thought you were going to say you wanted to be an astronaut or something, but you can totally do that.' And I said, 'You know what? I can do that. I'm going to give it a shot.'"

A native of DeWitt, Michigan, Reyburn played baseball for four seasons and football for two seasons for the Flying Dutchmen. He graduated from Hope with a degree in sociology.

Reyburn has worked full-time for MLB since 2014. He started his quest in January 2000 at umpire school and rose up through the minor leagues.

Since 2018, Reyburn has worked seven playoff series: two wild-card rounds, four division series and one league championship series. He also worked the 2019 MLB All-Star Game.

Reyburn is one of five umpires making their first World Series appearance.

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