The Real Life Adventures of Joe West

I missed Wednesday night’s festivities between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays. I was, believe it or not, playing hockey. I know: I am an actual, living, in-the-flesh Canadian stereotype.

Anyway, you can imagine my chagrin upon learning that I missed a Joe West ejection, two Chad Fairchild ejections, and all the drama that accompanied them. Life isn’t fair.

Thankfully, though, intrepid journalistic organizations — Reuters, for example — employ some of the finest sports photographers in the business, and they caught Joe West in action. It’s his form — his damn fine form — that I have become so enamored with.

Here’s another angle, this one from James Borchuck at the St. Petersburg Times. Bless you, James Borchuck.

Brilliant. Just exceptional. Art, dare I say.

You see, at NotGraphs, we’re not here to judge Joe West. Or Angel Hernandez, “an umpire so bad that he could only be on Joe West’s crew,” according to the one and only Craig Calcaterra. We’re here to only appreciate the Adventures of Joe West, both real and imagined.

I believe an anonymous commenter at The UEFL — The Umpire Ejections Fantasy League — put it best:

I believe the old saying is, “as goes Joe West, goes the bulk of the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League.”

NotGraphs’ Investigative Reporting Investigation Team has confirmed it; that actually is the old saying.

H/Ts: To Reuters, the St. Pete Times, and, most importantly, to Joe West.