“Cowboy” Joe West was behind home plate when Albert Pujols hit his 400th home run. He was behind the plate when Willie McCovey hit his 500th. He had Nolan Ryan’s fifth no-hitter and Clay Buchholz’s first no-hitter and Felix Hernandez’s perfect game.
On Tuesday at Coors Field, the 64-year-old veteran umpire worked his 5,000th game, a series-opener between the Rockies and Diamondbacks, joining only Hall of Famer Bill Klem, who umped 5,375 games, and Bruce Froemming, at 5,163, to reach the milestone.
“The greatest thing about this job is you witness a piece of history every day,” West said before the game.