Is MLB Umpire Ángel Hernández Really Retiring or Was He Forced Out?

It’s the “end of an error,” as one Twitter person put it, now that the umpire is putting up his hat after years of controversial calls.

May 28 2024, Published 12:19 p.m. ET

Although his departure is reported to be a retirement, enthusiasts suspect that arguable MLB umpire Ángel Hernández will have been fired.

Hernández introduced his go out on May 27, 2024, announcing he wanted extra family time. “Starting with my first Major League sport in 1991, I have had the superb enjoy of residing out my adolescence dream of umpiring in the major leagues,” he said in a statement, in keeping with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “There is not anything better than operating at a occupation that you revel in.”

His observation persisted, “I precious the camaraderie of my colleagues and the friendships I have made along the way in which, together with our locker room attendants in all the various towns. Needless to mention, there have been many certain adjustments within the sport of baseball since I first entered the occupation. This contains the expansion and promotion of minorities. I'm proud that I was able to be an energetic participant in that purpose while being a Major League umpire.”

Was Ángel Hernández fired?

The reputable tale is that Hernández has retired, however some fanatics — and a minimum of one pundit — aren’t convinced. “It’s so obvious [MLB commissioner] Rob Manfred fired Ángel Hernández but they’re letting him spin it as a retirement to melt the blow,” Sports Illustrated columnist Jimmy Traina wrote on Twitter. “But it’s no longer gonna work.”

Reddit consumer oldnick40 wrote, “Yeah, since his ultimate game was May 9, and he’s been negotiating with MLB since then. He was fired, and so they’ve been negotiating a severance so he doesn’t sue. Still, good news, everyone!”

And Reddit person jayrapsleafs wrote, “Forced resignation is firing with giving you an opportunity to save face. Same thing.”

But one Redditor didn’t buy the idea. “Let’s be actual,” istrx13 said in a comment. “There is no way (barring something severe) that he were given fired. The union and MLB more than likely negotiated some nice buyout that sent Ángel off into the sun.”

Why do fanatics assume Ángel Hernández is a foul umpire?

Hernández started umping professionally at age 20, working within the Florida State League, and he were given promoted to full-time MLB umpire status in 1993. Criticism of his calls has intensified not too long ago, although. In April, he called a strikeout on the Texas Rangers’ Wyatt Langford after 3 consecutive pitches strayed from the strike zone — one among which went out through greater than six inches — in line with the Twitter account Umpire Auditor.

An Umpire Auditor tally confirmed that Hernández made 161 bad calls in the 10 games he labored all the way through the MLB’s 2023 common season, score him as that season’s lowest-rated umpire who had worked at least 10 MLB games.

Hernández angered MLB avid gamers lately, too, with the Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber throwing a tantrum (and his bat) and yelling at him all through a 2022 game and the similar team’s Bryce Harper getting ejected for confronting Hernández right through a sport the next yr.

Then there was the time former Chicago Bears participant Steve McMichael called out Hernández ahead of singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at a 2001 Chicago Cubs sport. “Don’t worry — I’ll have some speech with that home plate umpire after the game,” the ex-football celebrity instructed the Cubs crowd, as Hernández glared at him from the field.

Suffice it to say, fans and players will not be dropping many tears now that Hernández is leaving the MLB. “End of an error,” one Twitter consumer wrote.

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