Angel Hernandez Is Gone!
MLB umpire Angel Hernandez retired suddenly yesterday.
I received about 7 texts congratulating me because like all baseball fans, I was not a fan of how Hernandez called a baseball game.
He was incompetent, at best, and intentionally confrontational at his worst.
When the umpires were announced as the game started I would scream if Hernandez was behind the plate, or at first base, or at second base or at third base.
He was equally bad…
…no matter where he umped.
Angel behind home plate was an absolute adventure and if you have a chance to watch the worst of his calls you’ll see him throwing out Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber on two of the most horrendous of calls.
That’s the thing about Angel…
…not only was he often wrong…
…he behaved as if he were the meanest man who ever stepped on a baseball field (except for maybe Ty Cobb).
Yet, a funny thing happened as I celebrated Angel being sent out to pasture…
…I started feeling sorry for him!
All of social media was celebrating!
I imagined him reading some of the criticisms.
The man umped for 33 years.
We all want to feel as though we’re doing a good job.
He explained that he loved what he did and that he was retiring to spend more time with his family.
Hernandez had a law suit against MLB because he was not chosen to ump playoff games.
In a 2018 playoff game, he had 4 calls overturned by replay in about three innings.
So, goodbye to a true legend.
In some strange way I’m going to miss him.
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