Joe West’s retirement has led to plenty of thoughts on the now former umpire’s career. He was not exactly known for his competence or patience on the diamond, which has been reflected in quite a few of the reactions. Former Chicago Cubs star Fergie Jenkins was amongst those players who made their thoughts felt about West.
Jenkins is not someone who would be counted as a fan of West’s umpiring abilities. He put it very succinctly on his Twitter account when he gave his thoughts about West retiring.
Whenever he called games I pitched, I used to call him Ray Charles!😎😎 https://t.co/ufjWMhY1L5
— Fergie Jenkins (@fergieajenkins) February 4, 2022
Chicago Cubs legend Fergie Jenkins not holding back on Joe West
Jenkins may have turned 79 years old back in December, but he is still throwing heat. We certainly have to wonder what his thoughts are about Angel Hernandez and some of the other clowns masquerading as umpires around the league.
He is not the only former Cubs player to claim that West had vision issues. Andre Dawson was once ejected after bumping West following a called third strike. His infamous tirade included throwing 14 bats onto the field after he returned to the dugout. Fined $1000 for his actions, Dawson wrote “donation for the blind” on the check he sent to the league.
Jenkins only had to deal with West for just two seasons. Before umpires were lumped under the MLB banner, they were in the AL or NL. West was an NL umpire, and as Jenkins was with the Red Sox and Rangers during that time, he was able to avoid “Ray Charles” behind the plate.
Those two years were clearly enough to leave an impact on Jenkins. Chances are, he wishes West had retired prior to the 1982 season when he returned to the Cubs so that he would not have needed to deal with his issues behind the plate.
Chicago Cubs legend Fergie Jenkins is still throwing the heat. This time, that heat came with his nickname for retired umpire Joe West.