Jim Joyce is the best umpire in major league baseball according to a survey of 237 players who responded to a Sports Illustrated poll published in this week's edition.
Joyce won the top spot easily, with 35% of the players naming him the best.
The top five umpires among the 85 working umps, according to the players:
- Jim Joyce (35% of the vote)
- Tim McClelland (18%)
- Jim Wolf (7%)
- Laz Diaz (6%)
- Joe West (5%)
According to the magazine, 28% of the players over 30 named McClelland, 60, the best, but he got just 12% from players under 25. A total of 23% of the position players named him the best, but only 13% of pitchers thought he was the best.
The magazine also said that in a similar poll, West was voted the worst umpire with 41% of the vote. The other four umps on the best list combined for just 1% of votes on the worst list.