Infamous Umpire Jim Joyce Saves Woman’s Life With CPR

Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce made headlines the other night.  Usually, if an umpire makes headlines, it's not a good thing.  Tiger fans remember Joyce as the umpire that blew the call that cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010.  This time around, Joyce was the hero.

Joyce, 56 was heading to the umpire's dressing room before Monday night's game between the Marlins and Diamondbacks at Phoenix's Chase Field when he saw a stadium employee begin to shake and fall to the ground, according to MLB.com.

"I knew something was wrong, and knew if something wasn't done, this lady could actually die in front of me.  It was more instinct than anything else."

Joyce began performing CPR on the woman to the tune of "Staying Alive" which is often used to time chest compressions during CPR.

While Joyce was performing CPR, Marlins bullpen coordinator Jeffrey Urgelles arrived to help.  Urgelles was a firefighter and paramedic in Florida.  A first responder arrived with an automatic external defibrillator (AED) which they used while Joyce continued CPR.

The woman was taken to a local hospital, and it appears that she will be all right.

Joyce then went out and worked the game as the home plate umpire for that night's game.  Joyce said, "I'll be very honest with you, the way I look at it is, somebody needed help and I was fortunate enough to know what to do."

Joyce said that he originally learned CPR in high school, but has made sure that he stayed up to date with the maneuver and encourages others to do the same.

"Everybody should know it," he said.  "I truly mean that.  Everybody should know it.  Because if you only have to use it one time, it can, well...you can see what happened."

If you would like to learn CPR, the American Red Cross offers classes on a regular basis.  www.redcross.org

It's easy to learn, and you never know when you might need to use it.