Joe West = Class Act!

[whistleone]

Last night I had the pleasure (and misfourtune) to witness the events surrounding the Braves/Cardinals game.
Misfortune:
http://sportsline.com/mlb/story/9562349
-Watching a girl get clipped by a wind-blown beer cart.
-Hearing about 30 people being injured with 5 of those being taken to the hospital.

Pleasure:
-Watching Joe West be proactive and have the grounds crew put the tarp on the field before the storms came. He even went so far as to help drag the tarp over the field when the grounds crew needed an extra hand (as evidenced in one of the photos on sportsline).
-After a two hour delay, Joe was one of the first out on the field to let the crew know what needed to be done. A tear in the tarp rendered the area around home plate an muddy mess. After 15 minutes and a couple dozen bags of quick-dry, the field was ready to go. It was obvious to me that Joe had the players' safety in mind throughout the entire process and would not let the game go on if anyone was at risk of getting injured due to the field conditions.
-After a young girl was struck in the face by a foul ball deep down the left field line, Joe personally delivered a baseball to her and made sure she was okay.
-Finally witnessing the Cardinals win a game in the new Busch Stadium (1 for 3 now).

Given the extreme nature of the weather (power outages for 500,000 people; semi-trailers overturned on the highway; 60 foot section of roof blown off of Lambert Airport and onto I-70) Joe and his crew did an excellent job!