UEFL Awards Honorable Umpires: Jim Joyce & Ted Barrett

2012 UEFL Awards: Honorable Umpires of Year: Jim Joyce & Ted Barrett (66, 65)
Voting Results (min. 10%): Joyce 22%, Barrett 13%, Gary Darling 10%, Andy Fletcher 10%.

Jim Joyce and Ted Barrett are the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League's 2012 honorable umpires of the year.

Umpire Jim Joyce

In his 25th MLB season, Joyce served as interim crew chief for the ill John Hirschbeck and concluded 2012 with one ejection in which a strike three call (foul bunt) by HP Umpire James Hoye was reversed after crew consultation and determination that in attempting to avoid being hit by the strike two pitch, the batted did not "intentionally [meet] with the bat"; therefore the foul was not a bunt (Ejection 026). In 2011, Joyce had four ejections. Joyce worked both the 2012 All-Star Game and the NLDS. In August, en route to the umpires' dressing room 90 minutes prior to first pitch, Joyce performed CPR on a Diamondbacks food service employee who had collapsed and was suffering cardiac arrest. Levy employee Jayne Powers was revived and taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, where Joyce and his wife Kay visited her the next day. That night, FSN Arizona's Brad Steinke reported, "Without a doubt, that man right there saved a life."

Joyce previously won the UEFL's Umpire of the Year Award in 2009 and Honorable Umpire of the Year Award in 2010.

Umpire Ted Barrett

In his 16th MLB season, Barrett concluded 2012 with zero ejections after completing two ejections in 2011. Barrett, however, made Major League umpiring history on June 13, becoming the first umpire to have worked home plate for two perfect games (David Cone 1999, Matt Cain 2012). In all Barrett and crewmate Brian Runge each partook in three no-hitters in 2012; Runge had called balls and strikes for the most recent no-hitter and perfect game. Barrett worked both the 2012 American League Wild Card Game and the NLCS. Prior to the season, Barrett & Mexico native Alfonso Marquez travelled to El Carmen, Nuevo Leon to teach, evaluate and assist umpires in the Mexican League. Indeed, Barrett & Marquez visit Mexico every year prior to spring training for both umpires and for children who are lacking clothing and other necessities ("Fonzie's Kids"). Marquez was the UEFL's Honorable Umpire of the Year in 2011. Reverend Barrett is additionally one of the founders for the baseball-themed ministry Calling for Christ, a ministry for professional baseball umpires, and is a Doctoral candidate in Biblical Studies at Trinity University. In November, Barrett will join Adrian Johnson, Mark Carlson and Marvin Hudson to serve as instructors at the 2012 MLB Umpire Camp at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, California.

Both Barrett (3B) and Joyce (HP) previously appeared on the 2011 UEFL Poll: All-Star Umpire Crew.

Jim Joyce now has 8 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (6 Previous + 2 Award = 8).
Ted Barrett now has 6 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (4 Previous + 2 Award = 6).

The next postseason award, Noteworthy Umpires of the Year, will be released later today.