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Mercifully, the Angel Hernandez Era in Major League Baseball Has Come to an End

Kevin Kinkead

By Kevin Kinkead

Published:

Apr 24, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) argues with umpire Angel Hernandez after being called out on strikes during the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Great news to kick off the unofficial start of summer, via Bob Nightengale at USA Today Sports:

Ángel Hernández, the polarizing veteran umpire who has drawn the wrath and exasperation from players, managers and fans alike over three decades, is retiring from Major League Baseball, a high-ranking baseball official told USA TODAY Sports.

MLB and Hernández had spent the past two weeks negotiating a financial settlement before reaching a resolution over the weekend.

The longtime umpire confirmed his retirement in a statement to USA TODAY Sports on Monday night:

“Starting with my first major league game in 1991, I have had the very good experience of living out my childhood dream of umpiring in the major leagues. I treasured the camaraderie of my colleagues and the friendships I have made along the way.

“I have decided that I want to spend more time with my family.”

Andrew Salciunas said something apropos about this on Monday morning’s show. It was something along the lines of “if you’re an umpire I shouldn’t know your name.” Paraphrasing, but yes, that’s totally accurate. The whole point of being an ump is that nobody should know who you are. It means you’re doing your job and making the right calls, staying in the background and not becoming the game yourself. Similar to how the media is supposed to report the story and not be the story.

But if you think about it, if you asked someone in recent years to name as many MLB umps as possible, Angel Hernandez, C.B. Bucknor, and Joe West would likely be the first few that come to mind, and for all the wrong reasons. In the NBA there’s Scott Foster and Tony Brothers, and then Tim Peel in the NHL. Forget the Mount Rushmore, this group has enough bad calls to fill up the entirety of South Dakota’s Black Hills.

Recently, you probably remember Kyle Schwarber going ballistic over this call:

And this one with Bryce Harper:

Thing is, this wasn’t some recent phenomenon. It’s not like Hernandez just started to slide in the last year or two. You can go back to 2018 to find that CC Sabathia rant, when the Yanks pitcher said:

“I do need to say this though – I don’t think Angel Hernandez should be umping playoff games. He’s absolutely terrible. He’s terrible behind the plate, terrible at first base. It’s amazing how he’s getting a job to umpire in these playoff games…. he shouldn’t be anywhere near a playoff game.”

So on and so forth. You could do 10,000 words on Hernandez’s bad calls, or just fill up the page with clip after clip of him pissing people off and getting it wrong. He also unsuccessfully sued MLB for racial discrimination, based on the allegation that he not been assigned to the World Series in 12 years (at the time of the filing).

The other consideration is that officiating is hard, and it’s often a thankless job. MLB umps travel all over the place and always have their calls second guessed and scrutinized, so no, it’s not an easy gig and never has been. But other umps do it much better than Hernandez did, and don’t find themselves in the headlines.

And how much sympathy are we supposed to have when the vast majority of us who work normal jobs in this country are, at a bare minimum, expected to do those jobs properly? We’re subject to customer feedback and performance reviews and there are procedures in place to make sure we’re doing our work and doing it correctly. If we were screwing up at, say, home building, as much as Angel Hernandez was screwing up at umpiring, then yeah, we’d also be harangued incessantly. Properly install the joist hangers next time and you won’t get yelled at by the foreman.

Anyway, happy retirement Angel:

Kevin Kinkead
Kevin Kinkead

Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com

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