Jim Joyce has long been considered one of the baseball’s best, and most respected, umpires.
The 54-year-old Toledo, Ohio, native has been a Major League ump since 1989, and twice, in 2003 and 2006, was voted the second-best ump, behind Tim McClelland, in Sports Illustrated polls of major-leaguers.
He has earned many high-profile assignments, including two All-Star Games (1994, 2001), seven Division Series (1995, ’98-99, 2001-03, ’08) and four League Championship Series (1997, 2004, ’06-’07).
Joyce, who was the second-base umpire for Dallas Braden’s perfect game earlier this year, also has worked two World Series, both involving the Yankees. He was part of the crew that worked the Bombers’ sweep of the Braves in 1999, as well as the Yankees’ seven-game series against the Diamondbacks in 2001.
Joyce was interviewed for HBO’s documentary on the 2001 series, “Nine Innings From Ground Zero.”
“Jim is what an umpire should be,” Indians manager Manny Acta told MLB.com yesterday.
“If I had to pick an All-Star crew to umpire every single game that I manage, Jim Joyce would be on it. He’s good, he’s fair, he’s friendly, and he’s courteous.
“It’s just unfortunate that he has to be in the middle of this.”
After graduating Bowling Green, where he played baseball, in 1977, Joyce began his umpiring career in the Midwest and Florida Instructional Leagues. That began an 11-year journey through the minors, including stops in the Texas, Pacific Coast and International Leagues.
He worked two other baseball milestones — when Nolan Ryan registered his 5,000th strikeout on Aug. 22, 1989, and when Robin Yount collected his 3,000th hit on Sept. 9, 1992.
Joyce, who’s been told he may be related to Irish author James Joyce, lives in Oregon with his wife and two children.
tbontemps@nypost.com