Ozzie's at it again.....

MD Longhorn

Altor wrote
I may not be a baseball umpire, but I do officiate. I never once said it was unfair. What I said was that when he goes to the media like he did, it gives the appearance that he is trying to create controversy

Create Controversy? He didn't create squat ... the controversy is already there.

Altor wrote
in order to make his name known.

Um ... his name is already known.

Altor wrote
If he wishes to defend hisself [sic], he can talk to the umpire association and/or commissioner.

Exactly why are you qualified to make the decision as to who he can talk to? Within the bounds of his contract, he can talk to whoever he wants. He has just as much right to discuss this call with the radio as Ozzie and Mark did with the TV.

Altor wrote
And the players and coaches have no business talking to the media about the umpire either. They should go through the proper channels as well and keep their opinions about the officiating out of the media.

While I might agree with that in principle, it just doesn't work out that way. It would be NICE if they didn't ... and then the umpire wouldn't feel compelled to go on the radio. But they did, and they will.

mbyron

I noticed in the video that the first balk was called by BOTH West and the 2B umpire at approximately the same time. I doubt that Joe paid the other guy off just to settle a score with the White Sox.

Given the camera angle, I couldn't tell if others called the second balk. But since the balk involved a move toward the plate, the 1B umpire has the best view of that.

SanDiegoSteve

Jurassic Referee wrote
Looks like the boyz at Head Office ain't happy with Country Joe.....

MLB plans showdown with umpire Joe West - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

More work for his PR people.....

This Jeff Passan guy sounds like a real horse's a$$. Talk about someone unqualified to speak about an umpire's ability! The article is laced with comments that prove this writer doesn't have a clue about the game of baseball, much less umpiring.

Jurassic Referee

SanDiegoSteve wrote
This Jeff Passan guy sounds like a real horse's a$$. Talk about someone unqualified to speak about an umpire's ability! The article is laced with comments that prove this writer doesn't have a clue about the game of baseball, much less umpiring.

Imo the only pertinent and newsworthy fact(if it is indeed a fact) in the article was that the MLB head office is planning to fine and/or suspend West. Everything else was a re-hash of personal prejudices on the writer's side, which is what most of these articles are usually about anyway.

MD Longhorn

SanDiegoSteve wrote
This Jeff Passan guy sounds like a real horse's a$$. Talk about someone unqualified to speak about an umpire's ability! The article is laced with comments that prove this writer doesn't have a clue about the game of baseball, much less umpiring.

Agreed. I just sent the guy a nastigram - feel free to do the same.

SanDiegoSteve

mbcrowder wrote
Agreed. I just sent the guy a nastigram - feel free to do the same.

I just did. I gave him a lot to get through his thick skull about Joe West and umpiring in general.

UmpJM

Mike & Steve,

As has been said, "Never argue with an idiot. He will simply drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience."

I fear your missives will neither enlighten, chasten, nor subdue Mr. Passan. He's a self-important gasbag with an oversized ego that will only be fed by your attention.

I wouldn't have bothered.

HokieUmp

Altor wrote
He had no business going on that radio show and talking about the incident with the White Sox. He's allowed to have an opinion about how long the Red Sox and Yankees take to play a ball game, but he should direct the comments to the commissioner's office and not the media.

You sure about that? I'm not a MLB umpire, nor have I read their contract with MLB, but unless there's something in the contract that forbids it, West can talk on whatever show asks him, if he wants to. And he can comment on the length of games, if he wants. He's still an American citizen. If you're against free speech, go join your friends in Al Qaeda.

Might not be the wisest course for him, but he's certainly allowed.

Happy Memorial Day.

APG

Umpire Joe West, Chicago White Sox's Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buehrle fined - ESPN Chicago

johnnyg08

There's something in the MLBUM about the crew chief only or MLB talking about calls that took place in a game. West is probably the crew chief so he can talk about the plays. Not sure about 2010, but I did ready something along those lines in 2009

rpumpire

I'm guessing that West's fine has more to do with his publicist (!) releasing what series West was going to be umpiring ahead of time and inviting media contact. I doubt it has anything directly to do with the on-field incident with Chicago.

bas2456

What about the shooing-away of Ozzie? I think that's where his fine comes in. There's no way I ever want to be caught shooing away a coach like that. I speak from basketball experience, but I would think that this applies to all sports, doesn't matter if it's cheerleading or basketball. It just looks ridiculously unprofessional.

Rich Ives

rpumpire wrote
I'm guessing that West's fine has more to do with his publicist (!) releasing what series West was going to be umpiring ahead of time and inviting media contact. I doubt it has anything directly to do with the on-field incident with Chicago.

Just what some of the reports are saying.

It's about his self-promotion activity.

Free speech stops at the workplace door (ask your own lawyer if you wish).

LeeBallanfant

rpumpire wrote
I'm guessing that West's fine has more to do with his publicist (!) releasing what series West was going to be umpiring ahead of time and inviting media contact. I doubt it has anything directly to do with the on-field incident with Chicago.

Considering the source from this MLB.com article "Umpire Joe West and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and pitcher Mark Buehrle were all fined an undisclosed amount of money by Major League Baseball on Friday for their part in an incident that involved called balks earlier this week, a person with knowledge of the situation told MLB.com.
No suspensions were levied. A spokesman for MLB declined to comment and would not confirm nor deny the financial sanctions. "

I doubt that West was fined, someone in MLB probaby threw that tidbit out to satisfy the angry press.

And on the topic of West being a bad umpire, being selected to work the World Series last year sort of negates that.

UMP25

West was, indeed fined. I can tell you as well that MLB is not very happy with Joe over the comments he publicly made, which was not permitted under their contract. A prior incident involving Joe also has earned him MLB's ire.

Welpe

bas2456 wrote
What about the shooing-away of Ozzie? I think that's where his fine comes in. There's no way I ever want to be caught shooing away a coach like that. I speak from basketball experience, but I would think that this applies to all sports, doesn't matter if it's cheerleading or basketball. It just looks ridiculously unprofessional.

He was telling Ozzie not to come out to argue the balk. That is pretty common in the bigs.

UMP25

West's actions were unprofessional. The guy's got an ego as big as Ozzie's, which is very big. West's fine was deserving.

bluehair

UmpJM (nee CoachJM) wrote
Mike & Steve,

As has been said, "Never argue with an idiot. He will simply drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience."

I fear your missives will neither enlighten, chasten, nor subdue Mr. Passan. He's a self-important gasbag with an oversized ego that will only be fed by your attention.

I wouldn't have bothered.

JM

+1
He may even understand and agree with everything you say, but that's not good copy. He's just an entertainer, trying to entertain.

bas2456

Welpe wrote
He was telling Ozzie not to come out to argue the balk. That is pretty common in the bigs.

So he had to do it that demonstratively? Can't he just wait for Ozzie to get out there and say "Hey Ozzie, it's not worth arguing, go back and sit down"?

Apparently not, and I think that was part of the reason he got fined.

UMP25

I'm no fan at all of Ozzie, but telling him to "get the f--k off the field" isn't exactly very professional.

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