Umpire Jim Joyce performs CPR on stadium employee, helps save her life

(CBS News) Remember the umpire whose blown call cost Andres Galarraga a perfect game in 2010? Well, other than that notorious moment, Jim Joyce is regarded as one of the finest in the game, voted MLB's best umpire just last year.

Minutes before a game in Arizona, he showed why he may be the best off the field too.

Joyce performed CPR on a stadium food service employee who had a seizure, helping to save her life before Monday's Marlins-Diamondbacks game.

"It was non-normal," Joyce told CBSSports.com's Scott Miller Tuesday afternoon. "I don't know what word to put on it. It's obviously never happened to me before."

Marlins bullpen coordinator Jeffrey Urgelles, a former firefighter and paramedic in the Miami-Dade County area, soon came to assist Joyce as well as the paramedics when they arrived on the scene. The employee, Jayne Powers, was taken to a hospital and could be released later this week.

As Miller reports, Joyce and the other umpires in his crew had just arrived at Chase Field and were headed to their dressing room when they saw a woman down in the midst of having a seizure. Joyce, who learned CPR when he was in high school, made sure that the woman's head was protected, Miller reports. But shortly afterward, her body relaxed and Joyce knew something was wrong.

"I've had to use CPR before," Joyce said. "This is something everybody should know. Everybody should know what to do in a circumstance like that. It's not a hard thing. You don't need a degree. It's very simple, and very easy."