Jim Joyce = The Best of the (Not Quite) Best!

He was so obviously out that it makes my heart hurt to watch this

This morning it was revealed that, in a poll Sports Illustrated took during Spring Training this year, MLB players voted Jim Joyce the best umpire in the majors with 35% of the vote. Everyone talking about it is mentioning that this shows what a good guy he is and how much respect players have for him given that he is the man who single-handedly robbed Armando Galarraga of a perfect game last season. (It’s worth noting that In 2010, after the blown call, Joyce won the same title in a similar poll.) He must be good at his job if he did something so terrible and the players still like and/or respect him, right?

The way I see it, this speaks more to just how terrible even the players think the umpiring is in MLB than it does how much people like Joyce.  I mean if the guy who made the wrong call that caused a pitcher to lose his perfect game is the favorite umpire of the players, what’s that say for the rest of the umpires in Major League Baseball? (I’ll tell you what it says…it says they stink like cheese.)