In Wednesdays Indians and White Sox game in Cleveland veteran umpire Joe West was working first base and called two balks over the course of two innings on White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle. Both Buehrle and manager Ozzie Guillen were ejected as result of arguing the calls. One of the most controversial parts of the entire situation is when play-by-play announcer for the White Sox, Ken Hawk Harrelson, harshly criticized the calls on live television by saying ,”He’s becoming a joke to the umpiring profession” and went on to say “Joe West deserves a suspension…he needs a rest.” Manager Ozzie Guillen wasn’t short for words after the game either with remarks such as “Joe has been like that for a lot of years…he thinks people pay to watch him umpire.”
Veteran Umpire Joe West Controversial Calls
Previous post: Busy week for MLB
Next post: Jim Joyce Misses Call…Alters History
