Inside The Rangers

MLB 45-Year Veteran Umpire Calls It Quits

Joe West retires as the all-time leader in games umpired

Timm Hamm

Major League Baseball umpire Joe West has decided to end his 45-year umpiring career effective immediately. West told ESPN back in October that he planned to retire at the end of the 2021 season, and on Friday, he made it official.

West, 69, leaves the game as the all-time leader in games umpired with 5,460 since first joining the National League in 1976. "Cowboy Joe" or "Country Joe" as he was nicknamed, has worked six World Series, served as the president of the MLB Umpires association from 2009 until 2018, and in 1988, appeared in the motion picture, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 

West originally resigned during the 1999 Major League Umpires Association mass resignation but was rehired in 2002. Since then, he has served as crew chief for the 2005 World Series and officiated in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, and has worked several no-hitters, including a 2012 perfect game by Félix Hernández.

A 3-1 victory by the L.A. Dodgers over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Wild Card game back on Oct. 6, 2021, will be on record as West's last game umpired.

West told ESPN in October that owning that record was his goal. "I thought I would do it last year but the season got a little messed up and I don't think it was right to work until the point of the record then just quit," West admitted. 

Social media showed mixed reactions to West's retirement, and many remembered his 2015 stare-down with then-Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner that went viral.

Others that reacted said they'd admittedly be sad to see him go.

West isn't the only umpire hanging up his mask and pads for good, as MLB Communications issued a statement naming others to do so, and named five others being promoted.

In 2006 Sports Illustrated published a survey of 470 MLB players that identified the best and worst umpires. Two percent of the players identified West as the best, ranking him ninth on the list. Six percent of the players picked West as the worst.

In 2007, The Hardball Times reviewed MLB umpire strike zones and determined that West was the most consistent umpire in the majors.

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Timm Hamm
TIMM HAMM

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