(Atlantic) Kevin Sweeney, son of Atlantic residents Bob and Kathy Sweeney, recently made the most of an incredible opportunity at the Summer Olympics.
Kevin Sweeney served as a baseball umpire at the games in Tokyo. “It was unbelievable. I was over there for 16 days and it was the time of my life.”
The Olympics weren’t Sweeney’s first rodeo when it comes to international competition. He umpired the 2012 18U Championship in Korea and the 2018 23U World Championship in Columbia. In 2018 he was International Umpire of the Year and in 2019 the Olympics came calling. He’s twice been through umpire school and narrowly missed out on umping in the Major Leagues. In fact, he twice worked in the Arizona Fall League which is a spot reserved for the top dozen umpires in the minors. “In 2008 I went back to umpire school and made it. I started out in the minor leagues and spent almost ten years in the minor leagues.” Sweeney says, “I didn’t quite make it. I made it to AAA and Big League Spring Training. My dad always taught me and my mom always taught me to never burn a bridge. I just kept in contact with a lot of people and that’s when this opportunity came to work international baseball.”
Sweeney was one of 15 baseball umpires in Tokyo and worked seven games during his stay. Two of those games were behind the plate including the bronze medal game. “The bronze medal game for me was a big deal. That was the Dominican Republic and Korea. The Dominican won their first medal in baseball. I worked home plate so that was very exciting.”
As the COVID situation delayed the games one year and brought uncertainty heading into this year, Sweeney waited patiently with hopes he wouldn’t miss out on an amazing opportunity. “Probably about April or May I started getting a little nervous because over in Tokyo they were shutting a lot of things down. I don’t think they wanted to have the Olympics with everything going on. I wouldn’t say nervous, I was just going to be more disappointed than anything. Because if they would have cancelled this time they weren’t going to have it in 2022.”
Baseball and softball are not Olympic sports in 2024. He’s hopeful they’ll return in 2028 in Los Angeles. Sweeney’s primary umpiring gigs come in college baseball where he works SEC and ACC games. He’s worked three super regionals and is hoping to get a shot at the College World Series in Omaha.
Kevin Sweeney:
