'Cowboy' Joe West goes looking for trouble again, ejects Ozzie Guillen and Mark Buehrle
May 26, 2010, 1:10 PM EDT
Joe West made headlines last month for complaining about the pace of Yankees-Red Sox games and this afternoon the veteran umpire once again made himself the story by ejecting Ozzie Guillen and Mark Buehrle.
Guillen’s ejection came in the second inning, when he argued West’s balk call against Buehrle. An inning later West called another balk on Buehrle, at which point Buehrle raised his palms in disgust and dropped his glove to the ground.
As soon as West saw any kind of reaction he began moving toward the mound looking for a confrontation and once Buehrle’s glove hit the ground the ejection was immediate.
Buehrle had to be restrained by teammates and White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson spent the next 10 minutes unloading on West, calling him “an absolute disgrace” and “a joke” among many other things. “Joe West wanted to stick it right up his behind and he did,” Harrelson said. “Something’s gotta be done about that. The last couple of years, he’s really had it in for the White Sox.”
As a Twins fan I’m not exactly in the habit of defending the White Sox, but West’s behavior was out of line. Whether or not “he’s really had it in for the White Sox” is up for debate, but he clearly went out of his way to call multiple balks against Buehrle–it’s the first time a White Sox pitcher had two balks called since 1993 and Buehrle had a grand total of one balk called against him in the past three seasons–and then changed the entire complexion of the game (and Chicago’s next couple games) by kicking the starting pitcher out of a 0-0 matchup in the third inning.
On the heels of Bob Davidson’s latest “incident” last night in Tampa Bay, it’s shaping up to be a banner week for out of control umpires.
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- JBerardi - May 26, 2010 at 1:20 PM
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Banner week for umpiring. Did West wake up this morning, hear about the Bob Davidson incident, and decide he was gonna show Davidson how a true master of the craft unnecessarily inserts himself into a game? Ridiculous.
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- KG - May 26, 2010 at 1:21 PM
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Unfortunately, this seems to be an all-too common problem nowadays, aggressive umps itching for a fight, rather than arbiting the game and diffusing the situation. Funny that Angel Hernandez is the one in the photo restraining Buehrle; he’s one of the worst offenders.
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- Ross - May 26, 2010 at 1:26 PM
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Ozzie’s Twitter feed could get interesting…
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- JBerardi - May 26, 2010 at 1:33 PM
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They think they’re part of the game. That’s the only way I can really explain it. It should be noted that the highest-paid umpires in the game make about 300K a year– less than the league minimum. They need to remember that even the best, most senior umpire in the league isn’t worth as much to the game as even the scrubbiest utility infielder or lefty specialist. Tens of thousands of people showed up at this game to see Buehrle Pitch. No one walked into that ballpark today talking about how they couldn’t wait to see Joe West make some awesome balk calls.
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- kyle s - May 26, 2010 at 1:33 PM
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i don’t often agree with hawk harrelson, but he’s right about one thing: joe west needs a timeout. maybe a nice little suspension will remind all these grandstanding jackass umpires that nobody’s paying money to see them.
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- Hawk Harrelson - May 26, 2010 at 1:36 PM
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Fire Joe West. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126907370668741&v=wall&ref=ts
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- Joey B - May 26, 2010 at 1:37 PM
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I didn’t see the first one, but the second balk looked pretty straight forward. Buehrle then threw his glove, which he has to know he’s not allowed to do.
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- Steve Braucksieker - May 26, 2010 at 1:38 PM
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Having Angel Hernandez intercede is a ironic since he is both the worst ump in the bigs and a consistent agitator. Gone are the days of refereeing, now umpires are unquestionable authority figures. They are becoming a disgrace to the game. I’m a pro union guy and all, but something needs to be done to weed out the bums in blue. If players can be DFA’d why can’t the umps. Publicize the ratings the clubs give the umps, give them a probation period, and if they don’t measure up dump ‘em.
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- That Guy - May 26, 2010 at 1:51 PM
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And I had Joe West on the bench in my fantasy umpire league.
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- adam - May 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM
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i don’t know about the first one either, but buehrle CLEARLY balked on the second one. his right leg crossed his left leg, meaning he has to throw a pitch. i’m actually happy that a balk was called for that. i’m sick of pitchers like andy pettitte NOT having balks called on them for blatant offenses. maybe every pitcher needs a copy of the rulebook with the part on balks called.
as for the ejection, it was a little quick but not completely uncalled for. being upset is one thing, but throwing your glove to the ground for a call the ump made is beyond slight disrespect. when a hitter throws his bat after a strike is called he’s going to get kicked out of the game, that’s the equivalent of what buehrle did.
so suck it up white sox fans, buehrle was in the wrong.
and aaron, what you said about joe west is wrong. in the video he clearly calls the balk, points towards second, sees buehrle’s reaction, kicks him out and then turns and walks AWAY, not towards him. the only step in buehrle’s direction is one step while he’s giving him the heave. to me, that’s how he should have handled it.
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- John - May 26, 2010 at 2:02 PM
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Don’t worry, Hawk. Joe West doesn’t have it in for your team. He’s just freakin’ awful.
- fan of the “embarassing” Red Sox. (Ironic line, coming from Joe West.)
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- oh Hal - May 26, 2010 at 2:03 PM
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Did you miss Ed Rapuano’s tirade in the Brewers/Twins game. There is a video. Its really quite entertaining. He charges the pitcher to the point he has to be restrained and lets loose the old F bombs. Was West worse than that?
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- Jonny5 - May 26, 2010 at 2:04 PM
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Looked like a Balk to me. But that also looked like West was itching to toss Buehrle from the game. It barely touched the ground and he was tossed. And it was more of a digusted toss, than an angry throw. I think Quatto made Joe throw him out. Quatto now lives in Joe Wests neck pouch.
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- Joey B - May 26, 2010 at 2:09 PM
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“and aaron, what you said about joe west is wrong.”
I saw that too. According Aaron, Buehrle merely dropped the glove, and West went after him. It was pretty clearly the opposite of how Aaron described the action. West’s only movement was to toss Buehrle, and Buehrle clearly precipitated that by throwing his glove. Me thinks Mr. Gleeman wanted to jump on the ump-bashing bandwagon and chose this as his vehicle. There was really nothing to this incident.
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- Twins Fan - May 26, 2010 at 2:11 PM
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Completely agree with you, Aaron. Joe West and some other select umpires need to take a shot in the wallet or something to pull them down from their overboard sense of empowerment.
On a side note, correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t players automatically get ejected for directing obscenities towards umpires? If so, why is it that the umpires are not ejected for directing obscenities towards players/managers? I clearly saw this happen during last night’s incident in Tampa and during the 1st inning of the Brewers/Twins game Thursday night (ump vs Dave Bush). Baseball is not always a pretty sport (reference Eric Gagne’s hats), but I would like to think the umps can carry themselves with a bit more dignity than to get into a swearing match with players.
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- J - May 26, 2010 at 2:25 PM
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Apparently, MLB believes umpires sensibilities are more important than the integrity of the game.
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- Chris W - May 26, 2010 at 2:25 PM
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Certainly there’s no objective way to say you’re wrong, but if you really think Buehrle’s right leg broke the vertical plane of the mound based on watching the provided video, I just don’t know what to tell you.
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- phil - May 26, 2010 at 2:39 PM
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Don’t balk and then it won’t be called…throw a strike instead of a ball and it might get called a strike….
that said, Davidson and West are ready for the pasture…idiots, both…
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- mike in MN - May 26, 2010 at 2:42 PM
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It’s not just the umps, it’s society. People are all agressive in politics. They think pitchers should throw at hitters that look at a HR. People yell at umps and coaches in little league. We just notice the umpires because they are on tv……Now that I’ve stepped down from the soapbox, it sure would be great to see MLB sanction this aggressiveness. Frankly, the sooner they use technology to call balls and strikes, the better.
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- Joe S - May 26, 2010 at 2:45 PM
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How the second one was “clearly a balk” is beyond me, those of you who are saying that. In order for it to be a balk the pitching foot has to com clearly behind the plant foot, exactly like a pitching motion. That wasn’t a balk at all. So you mean to tell me that a Pitcher who is as soft spoken and as humble as buehrle, who might have the best pickoff move in the AL, who has 1 balk in the last three years. Gets two in two innings by the Umpire who is known to dislike the White Sox organization, and tell me it wasn’t intentional?
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- ralf - May 26, 2010 at 2:47 PM
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Their union, without extreme changes in leadership, will never allow real changes in the way umps are evaluated or hired/fired.
This is a good example of why unions get such a bad rap. The umpires’ union exists solely to prolong the careers of current MLB umpires and has little interest in ensuring that the best possible umpires are on the field. Joe West gets to be an umpire because he’s already been an umpire for a long time. The quality of his work no longer matters. A lot of teachers’ and police officers’ unions have similar problems. As a far-left lunatic who longs for a return to the golden days of the IWW, it pains me to see high-profile unions being run for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many.
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- ghstrdr - May 26, 2010 at 2:48 PM
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Joe West is a disgrace. He is just bad for the game as well as all of the other hot headed umpires that have shown up in the news lately. Baseball is about the players and not the umpires. The umps should not be allowed to decide the game like what could have potentially happened in this game. I say suspend Joe and the other umps a month without pay for this offense. The next such offense double it. Something has to give before baseball becomes all about the umps.
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- sjp - May 26, 2010 at 2:53 PM
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Agree with Chris, clearly NOT a balk, he raised his leg with the foot angled back, but he raised it straight up and did not come anywhere close to crossing he left leg. West was wrong on the call and probably wrong to throw out Behrle…guys throw equipment all the time without being ejected. Those offenses are punished with fines, and not automatic ejections.
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- nps6724 - May 26, 2010 at 2:58 PM
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Buerhle’s right KNEE crossed his left leg. But by rule, I believe his knee is allowed to cross his leg. It is only a balk if the foot cross the leg so Buehrle’s knee crossing isn’t a balk.
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- Jay - May 26, 2010 at 2:59 PM
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You all are idiots. Rule of thumb, don’t argue balls and strikes, that is automatic ejection. See ya Carl Crawford and enjoy that day off for hitting him with your helmet. Secondly, Joe West was right about NYY/BOS and he is right in this case too. Boo frickin whooo….WAH WAH WAH, that’s all I hear from you morons. Rules are rules and if they are broken those that broke them need to be reprimanded. If you don’t agree, don’t act like a child and throw your glove on the ground. Take it and go. The Chi-Sox suck anyways and Ozzie has already given up on them. Just read his twitter, he knows they suck!!!
