As a young umpire, he worked Nolan Ryan's fifth career no-hitter, was on the field for Willie McCovey's 500th home run, and was involved in a 1983 pushing incident with manager Joe Torre.

[3][4] He intended to play his college football career at ECU, but head coach Mike McGee resigned after his first year, prompting West's transfer.

He was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) on the 1973 team that lost the NAIA Division I title game to Abilene Christian; the Abilene Christian team was led by future professional football players Clint Longley and Wilbert Montgomery.

[3] In 1983, West was suspended for three days and fined US$500 for shoving Atlanta Braves manager Joe Torre.

[3] On September 28, 1988, West was on the field when Orel Hershiser set the MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched.

[11] West returned to the NLCS in 1988 and was the plate umpire when Dodgers pitcher Jay Howell was ejected for having pine tar on his glove.

The matter ultimately was handled among West, NL President Bill White, then-Commissioner Fay Vincent, and the umpires' union.

White was reported to have nearly resigned due to a lack of support from Vincent, but the NL president remained in his post after receiving approval from league owners.

[14] West met more controversy the following year when Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson bumped him after a called third strike during a game at Wrigley Field.

[16] In 1992, West made his first World Series appearance when the Atlanta Braves faced the Toronto Blue Jays.

West was behind the plate in the first World Series game played in Canada and ejected Braves manager Bobby Cox for throwing a helmet onto the field.

[19] The union filed charges against MLB with the National Labor Relations Board, saying the mass resignation was "a concerted action protected by law".

[21] He worked his 4,000th career game on July 30, 2009, at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; he ejected Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman from the contest.

[22] West and the union's governing board negotiated the largest umpiring contract in the history of MLB.

[3][24] In 2010, West sparked controversy by criticizing the slow pace of a recently completed series between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, which he called "pathetic and embarrassing".

"[26] Columnist Wallace Matthews defended West, saying the umpire was simply expressing what people had been thinking for a long time.

[28] On May 26, 2010, West made two controversial balk calls on Mark Buehrle and consequently ejected White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén for arguing and Buehrle for throwing his glove which led to the Chicago announcer asserting that West was becoming a "joke to the umpiring profession" and was "in need of a suspension.

The next year West was the first base umpire for Félix Hernández's August 15 perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

His career has spanned the tenure of baseball commissioners Bowie Kuhn, Peter Ueberroth, Bart Giamatti, Fay Vincent, Bud Selig, and Rob Manfred.

[35] In the bottom of the first inning of Game 4 of the 2018 ALCS, a deep drive and potential two-run homer to right field by Houston's Jose Altuve, which Boston's Mookie Betts nearly caught with a leaping grab at the wall, was ruled by West to be an out due to fan interference.

On the podcast, Lo Duca recalled his teammate Billy Wagner telling him in 2006–2007, "Joe loves antique cars so every time he comes into town I lend him my '57 Chevy so he can drive it around so then he opens up the strike zone for me."

In the complaint, West denied this and said he suffered unspecified damages as a result of Lo Duca's comments.

[42] On July 30, 2020, while umpiring the Washington Nationals–Toronto Blue Jays game, West was hit on the side of the head when Bo Bichette lost his bat.

[43] On May 25, 2021, West surpassed Bill Klem's major league record by umpiring his 5,376th career game, in a contest between the White Sox and Cardinals at Guaranteed Rate Field.

[44][45] West announced he would retire after the 2021 postseason;[46] his final assignment was the 2021 National League Wild Card Game, where he was the home plate umpire.

In 2006, the spring after he was crew chief in the World Series, a Sports Illustrated survey asked 470 MLB players to identify the best and worst umpires.

[52] In a 2019 study by Boston University's Mark T. Williams, West was identified as the umpire during the 2018 season with the second-highest percentage of bad ball-and-strike calls when working behind home plate.

"[57] In a September 2012 review, music blog Long After Dark said, "Blue Cowboy easily ranks with Ron Artest and Carl Lewis as one of the worst albums that a sports figure has cut ... ever.

"[59][60] Sportswriter Doug Miller said that the album was "a fun, humorous and often touching collection of spoken-word gems in which the listener gets a perfect sampling of the true personality of Cowboy Joe West".

[3] In his retirement, West has spent time trying his hand at being a Wikipedia editor, attempting to edit "his" page in order to "change unfavorable aspects", specifically with regards to the Joe Torre shoving match.