Bob Nightengale @BNightengale
Joe West will stand alone tonight, setting the all-time record for games umpired with a Who’s Who of celebrities coming into Chicago to witness the historic event.

CHICAGO — The Oak Ridge Boys will be there.

So will Commissioner Rob Manfred.

And Chicago Bears icon Jim McMahon.

Fourteen-time Grammy Award singer Emmylou Harris, too.

There will be another 130 guests and friends traveling to Chicago for the historic game Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field between the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals.

“He’s like a traveling road show," says umpire Dan Bellino, who requested in January to be on West’s crew for the historic game. “He can’t walk through a hotel lobby without people stopping him. It’s like the parting of the red sea."

He’ll walk into a honky-tonk, stuff dollars in the jukebox and play his own songs all night. “He’s the only guy I know," umpire Jerry Layne says, “that goes broke playing his own music."

He takes his golf clubs on the road, knowing they weigh exactly 78 pounds, but will tell the airline agent their scale is wrong. He traveled with his own fax machine until two years ago. The man never sleeps, and is always open for a good time.

White Sox broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson was furious with MLB umpire Joe West, as many have been these past 44 years. On this day in 2010, West had called a second balk of the game on Mark Buehrle, and Hawk was so outraged he said on the air, "Joe West should retire!"

Two years later, after West had beaten larynx cancer, which had forced him to miss 18 games, West said, "Hawk comes barging into the umpires' room after a game, screaming, 'Where is that son of a b----?' Then he comes into the shower. I've got soap all over me. He says to me, 'Look, we can fight each other and we can hate each other, but don't you f---ing die on me, damn it!'

"We've been best friends ever since."

West, 68, is planning to retire after this season

He’ll walk into a honky-tonk, stuff dollars in the jukebox and play his own songs all night. “He’s the only guy I know," umpire Jerry Layne says, “that goes broke playing his own music."

“He can’t walk through a hotel lobby without people stopping him. It’s like the parting of the red sea."

Fourteen-time Grammy Award singer Emmylou Harris, too.

John Kruk was rambling on last night about the time he and West met in a bar and talked for hours about non-baseball stuff and Kruk got a new perspective on West.

Emmylou is a huge baseball fan, specifically a Braves fan.

Emmylou is a huge baseball fan, specifically a Braves fan. I remember her being incredibly excited when mlb started streaming the radio broadcasts all those years ago, because she was on a tour of Australia and the Far East at the time, and it meant that she could listen to the radio broadcasts. I also saw her in Seattle about 20 years ago, and she had a stage hand who would relay her scores every so often, and she kept us informed on the progress of the Mariners' game.

He takes his golf clubs on the road, knowing they weigh exactly 78 pounds, but will tell the airline agent their scale is wrong.

Hall of Fame umpire Joe West.

He takes his golf clubs on the road, knowing they weigh exactly 78 pounds, but will tell the airline agent their scale is wrong.

David Freese @DavidFreese 2h

Early in career I walked up to home plate and didn’t say hi to Joe West. He waited for Arroyo to start his windup. “Time”. Looked at me and goes “I don’t know what part of the country you’re from but you say hi to me first AB. Play ball”. We were friends for the next 10 years.

“He can’t walk through a hotel lobby without people stopping him. It’s like the parting of the red sea."

It's not so much people stopping him as it is them being captured and pulled into orbit by his gravitational field.

I thought McMahon had dementia. Does he know he’s going to a baseball game?

No one can fire you! For anything !

I would expect Joe West to be inducted into the HOF. The longest ever serving will probably get shoved in.

Or at least make some remarks during their speech about how often it is quantity that gets you in, not quality, for non-players then say 'exhibit A is over there' while pointing at West.