Column: Umpire Joe West’s skepticism about the COVID-19 death count puts his judgment under fire before the MLB season even begins

When you see Joe West is trending on Twitter and the baseball season has yet to begin, you tend to fear the worst.

Fortunately “Country Joe” was alive and well Tuesday, and the only reason America was talking about the game’s most controversial umpire stemmed from an ignorant comment West made about the coronavirus outbreak to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.

In an interview about the 67-year-old West’s decision to work this season in spite of being in the “high-risk” category for contracting COVID-19, the veteran umpire said he told Major League Baseball: “I don’t believe in my heart that all these deaths have been from coronavirus. I believe it may have contributed to some of the deaths. I said: ‘I’m not going to opt out. I’m going to work. And I’m going to work until you take me off the field or I get hurt. Whatever, I’m working.’ ”

The total cases of COVID-19 in the United States was closing in on 3 million Tuesday afternoon, and the number of deaths was over 130,000.

But Joe West’s heart tells him it’s not quite as bad as the numbers tell us?

In the immortal words of Ken “Hawk” Harrelson: “You’ve got to be bleeping me.”

The reaction to West’s comment was, as expected, full of jokes about his lack of judgment and his brash personality. Forty-four years on the TV screens of baseball fans has made West famous, and dozens of high-profile arguments with managers and players have made him infamous.

West is not, to put it mildly, beloved.

So when you make an ignorant comment like West did to The Athletic, you’re asking for an avalanche of abuse.

It’s hard to believe anyone still thinks that way this far into the pandemic. Actor Tom Hanks, who was among the first celebrities to contract COVID-19, said Tuesday on “The Today Show” he’s amazed at the number of people who still don’t take the coronavirus seriously.

“Look, there’s no law against ignorance,” Hanks said. “It’s not illegal to have opinions that are wrong. But there is a darkness on the edge of town here, folks, and … let’s not confuse the fact: It’s killing people. … Yeah, that’s right. It’s killing people.”

That’s an indisputable fact. But apparently facts no longer matter, as evidenced by President Donald Trump’s false claim that “99%” of the millions of cases tested were “totally harmless.”

Apparently West and Trump have a lot more in common than I thought.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon argues with umpire Joe West after being ejected in the fourth inning of a game against the Pirates on July 4, 2019, in Pittsburgh. (Justin Berl/Getty)

I have known West for a while and always enjoyed listening to him, whether we agreed or not. His act has been somewhat muted in the age of video replay, in which he no longer gets to argue with managers about calls on the field because challenges go straight to the replay booth.

“I don’t think it matters,” West once told me with a laugh. “I don’t think I ever lost one.”

Really? Not even to Lou Piniella?

“No,” he repeated. “I never lost one.”

I’ve run into West in bars on occasion after games I’ve covered, and he’s the same funny, belligerent person. After he ejected Cubs manager Joe Maddon in the ninth inning of a game in St. Louis near the end of the 2016 season for stalling to allow Aroldis Chapman to warm up longer, I saw West in a downtown bar.

“Where’s all the rest of the writers?” he asked.

“They’re still working,” I told him. “They all had to rewrite their stories because you threw Maddon out for absolutely no reason.”

“He threw himself out!” West yelled back, and another night of nonstop arguing began. It was great fun.

But this is one argument he can’t win, and it will undoubtedly make West a focal point as he attempts to break Bill Klem’s career record of 5,375 games umpired. He’s 65 games shy entering the 60-game season in 2020, and he should break it early next year, assuming we play the entire season.

When asked about West’s views, Cubs brass said it shouldn’t matter on the field.

“Everybody’s got different views on things in life, and there’s a lot going on and some people take things more serious than others,” manager David Ross said. “It’s no different than other topics in life. I know Joe West is a professional. I know he’ll come in and do his job, and MLB will make sure these guys are following protocols and are held to a high standard.

“I have no doubt about that. And I know Joe West will follow protocols, and his internal thoughts are what they are.”

General manager Jed Hoyer concurred, saying West’s views on the global pandemic are irrelevant.

“There are people that aren’t concerned about (COVID-19) and act accordingly and people that are very concerned about it and take every precaution,” Hoyer said. “That’s one of the challenges we face as a country, so it makes sense that baseball would be no different.”

Hoyer said management has told Cubs players that “everyone here has to take it equally seriously.” They even had pitching coach Tommy Hottovy talk to players about his harrowing experience after contracting the virus.

“We can’t have a subset of people that don’t view it with the same severity,” Hoyer said. “Then it’s not going to work. We’re not going to be successful.”

Certainly there are some in the Cubs organization who share similar views as West. I can think of at least a handful of former Cubs who would wholeheartedly agree with him, even if they didn’t like him as an umpire.

Do any of the current Cubs share West’s views?

As it happens

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“Not with the Cubs that I’ve talked to, no,” Hoyer replied.

Well, that’s good to know. At least the players understand facts are still facts.

Back in 2017, I asked West how long he thought he could continue umpiring.

“Until these TV people get tired of looking at me,” he said. “My mother says it’s a great job because I wear a mask and I don’t scare the kids.”

Sorry, Joe, but you’re scaring the kids now.