Joe West = Class Act!
 

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!

Joe i must say is a good umpire. He cares about baseball; not just the $$$. Way to go Joe! :D

Too bad that on other boards, Joe West is regarded to as a "pompous, arrogant a$$". Joe has plenty of time in his position and knows what he is doing. It's a shame that some people are just too jealous to see that.

Cowboy Joe is one of those love him or hate him guys, evidenced by the fact that he ends up on both the ten best and ten worst umpires lists compiled by SI and based on player/manager surveys.

And thumbs up to whistleone for pointing this out. People getting "attaboys" for a job well done is getting rare these days. Thanks for pointing it out to us.

I have to admit, I was never a fan of Joe until this year. His working with Ed Rapuano, who I admire, has allowed me to watch him more often, and I've realized how good Joe is at what he does. After reading Pam Postema's book as well, in which she gushes about Joe's work ethic, I have a newfound respect for Joe. I've even noticed this year that his arguments and ejections are down. Kudos to Joe for continuing to improve, even after almost 3 decades on the field.

And Joe is a proud graduate of Elon College, where I attend. Along with Jack McKeon. Fun fact for you :)

From MLB.com


"You have to give a high-five to [umpire crew chief] Joe West," La Russa said. "He knew exactly what needed to be done. He told the grounds crew exactly how they needed to prepare the plate for the game. "
If the game wasn't played Wednesday, both teams would play Thursday afternoon at 1:10 p.m., at which time the predicted heat index was expected to be above 100 degrees. "West was aware of tomorrow's weather," La Russa said. "Give Joe West credit."

Hehehe,
 

Joe West is the only graduate EVER from professional umpire school (Brinkman) that, accorrding to Barney Deary and all instructors at the camp, could have gone directly to the Major Leagues and skipped Minor League Baseball entirely.

Regards,

Joe is from Eastern NC (Tuss is right he went to Elon where he is the Hall of Fame for his football days;Don't forget Drew Coble went there as well). Anyway, Joe used to hold clinics in Greenville NC years ago. I worked with a guy in the early 90's that went to one of them. He went on and on about Joe working with them on plate mechanics.

Joe is not as much of a reda** as he used to be. I don't think he or any of the other old school guys go looking for trouble like I think they did sometimes in the past. Mind you he will handle problems when they come up and he doesn't have a problem sending anyone to the house. I think his attitude change has let the real quality of his work shine through. Many people remember his sour attitude years ago (smirking at Andre Dawson after he ej'd him as Andre showered the field with bats) but his work was high quality back then. Even Froemming has calmed down some. But I also think this is due to the fact that management doesn't want the onfield confrontations of the past. Which is why Dreckman and Hernandez will at least have some explaining to do for the way they handled their EJ's this past week.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Joe a few times, and he has been nothing but a gentleman each time. A generous, kind individual I have found him to be, with a great Texas-like personality (must be the 10-gallon hat he was always sporting). They don't make many like him, IMHO.

While we are on the topic (or near it), I should point out that the guy I worked with tonight grew up best friends with the Hershbeck family. Kind of cool to hear the stories he had of them doing the lower level ball when they were young, (just like me!)

Maybe I could make it...

My dad and uncle grew up with both Hirschbecks, literally from the time they were like 5 years old. Hearing some of the stories about what they were like, both on and off the field, makes me feel good about myself. (Heard that Mark was more of the "umpire" personality than John was, though.)