Umpire sues ex-Mets catcher
West files lawsuit over a podcast that questioned his integrity
HOUSTON—Joe West, a longtime umpire for MLB, has sued former catcher Paul Lo Duca, accusing him of defamation for comments on a podcast that described West trading an expanded strike zone for the right to drive a pitcher’s classic car.
The complaint, filed in a New York state court Tuesday, also names the Action Network, a sports website that focuses on betting and that carried the podcast, as a defendant. The lawsuit rebuts the comments made by Lo Duca on the podcast, which was posted this spring.
“When Joe heard about it, he was outraged,” said West’s lawyer, Kevin Murphy. “He was shocked. Not only did Lo Duca say it on the podcast, but several other media outlets picked it up. We know for a fact that none of it happened, so for Lo Duca to say this is pretty vicious.”
West has been a full-time baseball umpire since 1978 and is the head of the Major League Baseball Umpires Association. Murphy said that Lo Duca and his representatives had not responded to the complaint but that he planned to depose Lo Duca.
Lo Duca did not respond to a message requesting comment. Patrick Keane, chief executive of the Action Network, said in a statement, “Whether or not Paul Lo Duca’s anecdotes about his baseball experiences were fully accurate, we expect the Action Network to be dismissed promptly from this case.”
On the podcast, Lo Duca said that when he was with the New York Mets in 2006 and 2007, Billy Wagner, the team’s closer at the time, told him after a game against the Philadelphia Phillies that West expanded the strike zone for Wagner in return for a loan of Wagner’s classic 1957 Chevrolet.
“I’m like, ‘really?’ ” Lo Duca is quoted in the lawsuit as saying. “He goes, ‘Yeah, so every time he comes in town, I lend him my ’57 Chevy so he can drive it around.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, so then he opens up the strike zone for me.’ I’m like, ‘This guy’s been throwing me out for the last 10 years of my life, and all I needed to do was rent him a ’57 Chevy?’ ”
The lawsuit states: “At the time the subject statements were made, Lo Duca knew the statements were false, or at a minimum, made with a reckless disregard for their truth or falsity.”
Umpires are expected to maintain neutrality and never to accept favours from anyone involved in the game.