MLB Umpire Joe West Sues Paul Lo Duca for Claiming He Took Bribes From All-Star Closer Billy Wagner

In case it wasn't already clear from watching seasons worth of MLB games, Country Joe West is as no-nonsense as it gets.

So it's no surprise to hear that allegations against his credibility from all the way back in mid-April did NOT fall on deaf ears.

On an April 18 podcast on the Action Network, veteran catcher Paul Lo Duca (famously of the Dodgers and Mets) asserted that former Mets closer Billy Wagner told him West gave him a few inches on either side of the plate in exchange for letting him drive a vintage '57 Chevy whenever he swung through New York.

West denies the allegation, and has taken Lo Duca to court to reclaim his good name.

Known throughout baseball as a hothead and a caricature already, allegations of cheating (essentially) are the last thing West needs on his shoulders.

And he seems to have a significant case to rebut the accusations.

Per West, though Lo Duca claims the game in question was between the Mets and Phillies between '06 and '07, he actually only umpired one such game behind home plate, and it ended on a home run, not a called strike, as the catcher claims.

Of course, West has had plenty of time to ponder this case; he's not working a postseason game this year, an indication of how his star has fallen.

We've got one side calling this fanciful story flat-out false and impossible, and the other side waxing poetic, with nothing much to gain. We understand why West is so upset, with indisputable factual evidence in his favor.