Cowboy Joe & the Babcocks
Joseph Henry West (born October 31, 1952), nicknamed "Cowboy Joe" or "Country Joe", is an American former baseball umpire. He worked in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 to 2021, umpiring an MLB-record 43 seasons and 5,460 games.
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, he grew up in Greenville and played football at East Carolina University (ECU) and Elon College. West entered the National League (NL) as an umpire in 1976; he joined the NL staff full-time in 1978. As a young umpire, he worked Nolan Ryan's fifth career no-hitter, was on the field for Willie McCovey's 500th home run, and was involved in a 1983 pushing incident with manager Joe Torre. West resigned during the 1999 Major League Umpires Association mass resignation but was rehired in 2002. He served as crew chief for the 2005 World Series and officiated in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. On May 25, 2021, West broke Bill Klem's all-time record by umpiring his 5,376th game.
West worked several no-hitters, including a 2012 perfect game by Félix Hernández. He officiated six World Series, three All-Star Games, ten League Championship Series (LCS), eight League Division Series (LDS) and four Wild Card Games. West was president of the Major League Baseball Umpires Association through 2018. As the organization's president, he helped negotiate the largest umpiring contract in baseball history. He works with a sporting goods company to design and patent umpiring equipment endorsed by MLB.
Ridin' West
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