On Friday, February 4, 2022, it was announced on Twitter that 69-year-old record-setting Major League Baseball umpire Joe West announced his retirement.

After umpiring 5,460 regular-season games and with a personality that is larger than life itself both on and off the baseball field, “Cowboy” Joe West has ridden off into the sunset for good.

West’s first umpiring appearance was on September 14, 1976, in Atlanta in a game between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. His finale was on October 6, 2021, was when he worked home plate at Dodger Stadium for the National League Wild Card game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals.

“He’s like a traveling roadshow,” said fellow umpire Dan Bellino about West.

Many baseball fans are relieved with the announcement of West’s retirement after his record-setting 45 seasons. He will best be remembered for his questionable strike zone and occasional bizarre antics behind home plate.

During the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, West ejected Washington Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo from his third deck suite during the seventh inning of a game between the Nationals and Atlanta Braves at Truist Park (formerly Sun Trust Park) in Atlanta. Although it is unclear precisely what Rizzo was yelling at West, several sources have reported that West repeatedly yelled back at Rizzo to “Get out!“

The list is long of West’s out-of-this-world calls behind the plate, which often resulted in harsh criticism from players, owners, and fans, resulting in their ejections from games. Yes, even fans.

On Friday, Major League Baseball also announced a list of promotions and retirements, aside from West’s. Longtime umpires Gerry Davis, Kerwin Danley, Brian Gorman, and Fieldin Culbreth have also retired. Replacing them will be Ben May, Ryan Additon, Sean Barber, John Libka, and Roberto Ortiz, all of whom have worked as vacation relief umpires over the years. Ortiz is the first umpire born in Puerto Rico to join the Major League Staff. He has worked 411 major league games since 2016 as a vacation relief umpire and behind the plate at the minor league level since 2009. He worked at the Triple-A level last season.

“I am honored and blessed to have the privilege of becoming the first Puerto Rican umpire to be hired by MLB,” said the 37-year-old Caguas, Puerto Rico native. “It fills me with pride to be able to represent my family and my island of Puerto Rico in what I consider the best league in the world,” West added.

When an individual retires from a career, people often comment on their replacement as having “big shoes to fill.” In West’s case, it isn’t the size of his shoes to fill, but rather what show you can pull off. No matter how much you loved or hated Joe West, he definitely made things interesting and entertaining with his occasional mind-boggling calls.

Happy Retirement “Cowboy Joe!” Enjoy making country music albums and golfing now that you will no longer be calling balls and strikes (or balls strikes) from behind home plate.

Let’s Play Ball!

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