Umpire Joe West Wins Defamation - Damages Future Card Show Earnings

[Misunderestimated]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...ca-defamation/

Hope this links works... The story is also on ESPN etc....

[Gmrson]

Interesting! I was told by someone who knows Alan Trammell and Jack Morris that the Hall told them to expect $1 million from appearances. Maybe Joe wouldn't be as in demand.

[36GoudeyMan]

This self-promoting, incompetent, arrogant, condescending POS who cannot umpire a game without pretending its his personal coronation should NEVER be in the HOF, and thus his claim of lost opportunity value due to his otherwise justifiable HOF rejection is BS. No PR firm would ever be able to truly rehabilitate his rank incompetence. He and Angel Hernandez should not be allowed within 5 miles of an MLB game.

[Jason19th]

While I certainly don’t condone making up a story about someone, the scariest thing for me is that there seems to be a thought that Joe West could make the hall of fame. How does a guy whom many MLB players think is one of the worst umps in history make it to Cooperstown.

[obiwan1129]

Originally Posted by 36GoudeyMan

This self-promoting, incompetent, arrogant, condescending POS who cannot umpire a game without pretending its his personal coronation should NEVER be in the HOF, and thus his claim of lost opportunity value due to his otherwise justifiable HOF rejection is BS. No PR firm would ever be able to truly rehabilitate his rank incompetence. He and Angel Hernandez should not be allowed within 5 miles of an MLB game.

Careful, we know Joe can hear. Not sure if he can read. If he sees this...he might not like it.

[36GoudeyMan]

Yeah, Joe West already ejected a GM (Mike Rizzo) from the second deck of the stadium during a game, so I guess he'd have no trouble ejecting a remotely-watching fan from his own home.

[packs]

I can't figure out what would motivate Lo Duca to say that. It was so easily disproven and yet it's so specific and strange.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

If Joe West goes in before Bruce Froemming...

[Casey2296]

The Court cited "integrity & character" when deciding in Mr. West's favor. That's a head scratcher of the highest degree. The only thing consistent about Joe's umpiring was that he always made it about himself.

So in honor of your umpiring Mr. Joe West I made a small donation today to the Blinded Veterans Assoc.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by packs

I can't figure out what would motivate Lo Duca to say that. It was so easily disproven and yet it's so specific and strange.

Haven't you heard? Embellishment, Speculation, Tall Tales and outright lie mongering is the new truth without consequences.

You can easily walk it back by just saying I was being sarcastic, joking, or "telling it like it is (but not really)"

Joe West might be a POS, but two POS's don't cancel each other out and become a shiny diamond.

[D. Bergin]

Delete - Double post

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by packs

I can't figure out what would motivate Lo Duca to say that. It was so easily disproven and yet it's so specific and strange.

Lo Duca has never been known for his good judgement:

https://deadspin.com/the-grim-coppish-concerns-and-macho-sketchiness-of-pau-1495424267


https://nypost.com/2006/08/09/catche...2-timing-scum/

[packs]

True. Wonder if Billy Wagner will follow Joe's lead. This incident might be keeping him out of the HOF too.

[Steve D]

So.....If, after a few years, West isn't elected to the HOF, does he sue the election committee for keeping him out of his "rightful" place in it?

I say "rightful" place from his perspective, as he seems to think he truly belongs there.

As for me, he should never get within 100 miles of Cooperstown!

Steve

[Exhibitman]

Did anyone read the details? LoDuca told a very specific story about catching with Wagner striking out the side on pitches outside the zone and then being told by Wagner that Wagner bought West's widening the plate by letting him drive his car. The facts that came out in court were:

"The 66-year-old veteran ump worked home plate only once when Wagner and Lo Duca were teammates in 2006-07 and Wagner did not pitch in the Phillies-Mets game".

in other words, it could not have happened.

That is a textbook case of defamation. West may have been pure crap behind the plate (I have no idea) but that sort of story...WTF was Paulie thinking?

[Snapolit1]

Paulie has spent too many days out in the sun at Santa Anita and Del Mar.

[Misunderestimated]

Adam's right -- Its clearly defamation ...... The damages were interesting to me. He is a presumptive HOF Umpire based on breaking Klem's record. The idea that he's a "bad Ump" is probably not part of that -- the fact that he umpired so many games seemingly makes him HOF worthy. That's debatable in theory but I'm not so sure that the "quality" of his umpiring (or lack thereof) will outweigh its quantity.
Personally, I don't feel remotely fit to judge the quality of his umpiring. He was/is clearly respected by his peers for his leadership and he's umped post-seasons and that's worth something. Being a bit of showboat - "Cowboy Joy" - probably helps more than it hurts. The one thing that would diminish any umpire's reputation more than anything else is what Lo Duca accused him of -- corruption. $500,000 is a lot of money but not to Lo Duca. I'm guesstimating that he cleared around $40,000,000 is salary in his career (baseball-reference is incomplete in his salary records)......

[big-six]

From Veterans Stadium

[Snapolit1]

I’d be real suprised if LoDuca is flush with cash. Just sayin.

[packs]

Hard to believe he didn't bother to respond to the suit.

[Misunderestimated]

Well, not responding is one way to keep down attorney fees.... Of course now West has to collect on the default judgment -- not my area of law but my understanding is that it can be surprisingly difficult even with a defendant like Lo Duca who can probably afford the judgment who is elsewhere I assume.
Someone else can chime in here if they like about that issue.
West won on the integrity/reputation issue which protects his future.

[Snapolit1]

Can be a real pain in the ass to collect on a default judgment. But can be done. Go after bank account, wages, property.
Really stupid not to appear. If you have no defense put you tail between your legs and resolve the damm thing.
The fact that LoDuca is a celebrity of some sort and doesn’t appear in lawsuits against him speaks volumes about his judgment.
Many people who deliberately risk default judgments are basically advertising the fact that they have no assets.

[FrankWakefield]

West making the Hall seems a bit of a longshot to me...

Adam is right about the defamation, the event could not have happened. So Lo Duca's statement was false. Maybe it was a spring training game; NO, it did not happen.

The amount awarded seems high to me.

But what about those umpire name tags!!!! It reminds me of playing board baseball games back in high school and college days. DJing... and for a time working at a radio station that carried the Cardinals. Back in those worthless days of fun we'd divide ballplayers and play out a mini season. We'd announce parts of the game as we rolled the dice and worked our way through the lineups. We'd make up the umpire crew and announce those. Terry Tata, Frank Pulli, Bruce Froemming, Shag Crawford, Doug Harvey... those guys were regulars. I usually added Dutch Rennert into the crew, especally if I had started a good strikeout pitcher (Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale, Johnson, Waddell). Dutch would be behind the plate. In my mind I can see him slightly pause after a pitch, turn to his right, then point to the right, and hollar out "RIIIKE!!!!" loud enough for people outside the stadium to hear. It wasn't really Strike, it was RIIIKE!!! Nice to see those name plates. I don't recall any of us adding Joe West to our imaginary umpiring crews when we played Super Star Baseball, Statis Pro Baseball, or APBA baseball.

Two more occasional umpires for our crew... Augie Donatelli and Al Barlick

[Santo10Fan]

I heard Cowboy is donating the $500K to his alma mater...