Cowboy Joe West is further exploring his Manifest Destiny at Boston Red Sox Opening Day.
Joe West has been an umpire for Major League Baseball since 1976. Sitting pretty at 68 years old, West hasn’t failed to make an early impression in the 2021 baseball season.
West has one of the biggest personalities among umpires, infamously flaunting his status as a veteran of the game. Despite being an MLB umpire for nearly 50 years, West doesn’t think he’s ever missed a call.
“My fourth year, [then-Padres manager] Dick Williams came out of the dugout to argue a play and said, ‘Just tell me you missed it and I’ll go away,’” West said in a 2020 interview with ESPN. “I said, ‘I’ve never missed one.’ He said, ‘You can’t be that arrogant.’ I said, ‘That’s not arrogance. I don’t call them all right, but I’ve been out here for all of them.’ And that just blew his mind.”
Boston Red Sox fans are angry with Joe West on Opening Day
Red Sox and Orioles fans are convinced that West is out to get their team.
There were more, I swear.
West has made his imprint on current and former MLB players, as well. He’s not afraid to eject anyone who steps out of line, and is frequently confrontational. West personifies ump show, in all its glory.
“If murder was legal,” one former player said via ESPN, “some days I would kill Joe. I mean it. One day he’s arrogant, vindictive, a jerk, a guy who really believes that 50,000 people came to the park to see him. But he’s a different person every time you see him. The next day he is joking with you on the field, he is charming … you want to go have a beer with him.”
As much as Joe West makes us want to throw a baseball at our television sets, he’s just entertaining enough to help us keep our eye on the ball.
You do you, Cowboy Joe.