You can’t take the ‘Cowboy’ out of Joe West, who will umpire 5,000th game

Controversial umpire “Cowboy” Joe West will become just the third umpire in baseball history to call 5,000 games when he works Tuesday night’s game between the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks, a pair of franchises that didn’t even exist when he began his major league career in 1976.

West, 64 and in his 39^th big league season, will join Bill Klem, the first umpire to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Bruce Froemming as the only members of this exclusive club. Klem called 5,369 games, and Froemming called 5,163 games.

West is considered the most polarizing umpire in baseball because of his knack for injecting himself into games, his outspoken opinions on issues such as the designated hitter and pace of play, and his penchant for being in the middle of heated arguments that end with a manager or player being ejected.

The native of Greenville, N.C., is also known as “Country” Joe West because of his love of country music — he produced two country-music albums and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry.

And as former big league pitcher Mark Mulder noted in a conference call to promote an upcoming golf tournament on Tuesday, West has been known to carry the demeanor of his nicknames off the field.

Mulder, who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals and Oakland Athletics from 2000-2008 and is also an outstanding golfer, recalled playing in a celebrity golf tournament with West on a rainy day at Pebble Beach a few winters ago.

“Every hole we get to, we can’t figure out why there are these big, huge dents in the green,” Mulder said. “The greens are soft, we’re putting and hitting these divots everywhere, and we can’t figure what’s going on; there are even guys from the grounds crew trying to figure out what was going on.

“We come to find out after about six or seven holes that Joe West was wearing these cowboy boots that have spikes on the bottom, golf spikes, and that’s what he was wearing for this tournament. The square soles of the shoes were putting huge dents in the green. So, you can’t take the cowboy out of him, I guess.”

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@MikeDiGiovanna