Longtime MLB Umpire Joe West Mocked After Announcing His Retirement

Longtime MLB ump Joe West certainly put his imprint on the game (for better or worse) during his four+ decades in the league.

After being one of the most criticized umpires in the game for many, many years, West finally announced his retirement on Friday morning.

MLB umpire Joe West has officially retired. pic.twitter.com/Sji66PJioZ

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) February 4, 2022

Immediately, fans, former players, and media members hopped on social media to make jokes about the end of the road for Joe West.

Joe West has officially retired, which means it’s the perfect time to revisit this iconic rant by Hawk Harrelson.

pic.twitter.com/m0jusA4JZP

— Sox On 35th (@SoxOn35th) February 4, 2022

My favorite Joe West Highlight. pic.twitter.com/IafyA1Mg9b

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 4, 2022

Congrats to Cowboy Joe West on a fantastic 25 year career

And then 20 more years of blown calls! A 2 decade long ump show of your ego influencing the game!

The first robot ump should be named Cowboy, since you’re the main inspiration for automation. And goodbye to that gullet! pic.twitter.com/fz82XROPBw

— KFC (@KFCBarstool) February 4, 2022

Joe West officially retired today pic.twitter.com/0iGthxgZgo

— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) February 4, 2022

Excited for Joe West finally being able to follow his real passion of yelling at school board meetings about CRT

— Richard Staff (@RichardStaff) February 4, 2022

Baseball fans seeing Joe West retire and not taking Angel Hernandez with him pic.twitter.com/sXeGhI37Zg

— The G Quad Podcast (@thegquad) February 4, 2022

Joe West tossing A.J. Pierzynski from a spring training game is so legendary

Congratulations on retirement Joe! pic.twitter.com/0PLdJZpnDO

— The Chris Rose Rotation (@RoseRotation) February 4, 2022

You know how you tend to soften in your opinions of sports figures you despise after they retire? Not for me with Joe West. Not ever. This guy sucks so bad and the game is better without him. Go away forever. https://t.co/QZUO0KkOLS

— Chris Rongey (@ChrisRongey) February 4, 2022

While Joe West might be gone, he’ll never be forgotten.

Not only did Joe West finish with the most games ever umpired in the history of the game (a record that won’t be broken any time soon). But his reputation as one of the worst in the business will mean that we’ll always have jokes about “Country Joe” at our disposal.

Despite it all, Joe West will leave the game of baseball as perhaps the most relevant umpire of all-time. For whatever that’s worth…

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