As he closed in on his 5,000th game umpiring in the major leagues four years ago, I asked Joe West if he planned to hang around long enough to break Bill Klem’s all-time record.
“Until these TV people get tired of looking at me,” he said. “My mother says it’s a great job because I wear a mask and I don’t scare the kids.”
Whether anyone is tired of looking at West, the veteran umpire is poised to set the major-league record for regular-season games umpired.
West, who has umpired in a record 43 seasons since 1976 and in 51 ballparks, is renowned for having been in the middle of more controversies than any umpire in modern history.