The WORST Umpire In Baseball History

Umpires in baseball are never usually light. Every single night and every single game being played, there's always one side at the very least being critical of the home plate umpire, if not both dugouts. The idea of robot umpires has been brought into play for a few years now, and the more and more we watch the current umpires mess up calls the way they do, it's looking more and more like robo-umps can be a reality. But until then, we just have to keep on suffering through people like Angel Hernandez. Most baseball fans are not familiar with umpires' names, if really any. The popularity is exactly the opposite of the players, in a sense where the worst ones get noticed the most, whereas you never hear about the good ones. Angel Hernandez is easily one of the top known umpires among baseball fans and has been for a number of years now. Why? Because he's terrible. From calling balls strikes, strikes balls, not understanding what it means to be safe or out, unnecessarily ejecting players and coaches, suing Major League Baseball for racism for simply not having an umpire in the postseason, the list just goes on and on. So why is Angel Hernandez so hated, why is he still employed, why did he sue Major League Baseball, and why is Angel Hernandez the worst umpire in baseball? Take a second to like this video, and if you're new to the channel, be sure to hit that subscribe button for future baseball content. Angel has a ton of umpiring accolades throughout his career. He umpired in the World Series in 2002 and 2005, as well as the All-Star Game in 1999, 2009, and 2017. He has officiated in 7 League Championship Series in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2016, and in 11 League Division Series, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020. Hernandez also worked Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS as an injury fill-in for Darryl Cousins. In 2006 and 2011, Hernandez was listed as the 3rd worst baseball umpire in Sports Illustrated player polls. A 2010 ESPN survey showed that 22% of Major League Baseball players asked identified Hernandez as the worst umpire in the Major Leagues. Angel has also had his fair share of incidents regarding players, managers, and coaches. On May 8th of 2013, Hernandez and two other umpires ruled a long hit by the Athletics' Adam Rosales as a double following a video review. Oakland's manager Bob Melvin argued the call, and Hernandez ejected him from the game, one in which the Athletics lost 4-3. Major League Baseball later admitted that the hit should have been called a home run, but said that it was too late to overturn it. Several umpires argued that the replay system did not provide clear enough pictures, and the system was later changed. In August 2017, Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler was fined $10,000 by Major League Baseball for critical comments he made about Angel Hernandez. Kinsler had said that Hernandez was a bad umpire and quote-unquote, needs to find another job. You then have October 8th of 2018, when Hernandez was the first base umpire for Game 3 of the 2018 ALDS between the Yankees and Red Sox. Four out of five plays that he called at first base, which were submitted for video review, were overturned. Hall of Fame pitcher and recurrent TBS analyst Pedro Martinez said after the game, Angel was horrible. Don't get me going on Angel now. Major League Baseball needs to do something about Angel. It doesn't matter how many times he sues Major League Baseball, he's as bad as there is. Pitcher CeCe Sabathia also weighed in, saying this. I need to say this though, I don't think Angel Hernandez should be umping playoff games. He's absolutely terrible. He's terrible at how to play today, he's terrible at first base. It's amazing how he's getting a job to pitch, to play in these, to umpire in these playoff games. What did you say to him? It's just a conversation for us, but he shouldn't be anywhere near a playoff game. Is that sentiment shared by many of your teammates? Everybody, everybody. I think if you go ask them on the other side too. It's always. He's bad. I don't understand why he's doing these things. Hernandez declined to comment after the game, a blowout win for the Red Sox, but Major League Baseball issued a statement through a spokesperson, and I quote, there were several very close calls at first base tonight, and we are glad that instant replay allowed the umpire and crew to achieve the proper result on all of them. That sounds like a defense of Angel to me. MLB removed Hernandez from the position of acting crew chief after accusing him of eavesdropping on an MLB investigative call in July 2019. Hernandez did not hang up his phone when his interview ended, and instead continued listening to the subsequent questioning of another umpire that he knew was intended to be separate. We have the most ridiculous lawsuit of all time. In July 2017, Hernandez filed a federal lawsuit against Major League Baseball, alleging that racial discrimination led to him being overlooked for World Series games and crew chief promotions. Nearly a week after he filed the lawsuit, Hernandez was named to the 2017 All-Star Game and selected as the first base umpire for the 2017 and later the 2018 American League Division Series. In March of 2021, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken granted a summary judgment in MLB's favor, writing, quote-unquote, The court concludes that no reasonable juror could find that MLB's stated explanation is a pretext for a discriminatory motive. And the evidence shows beyond genuine dispute that an umpire's leadership and situation management carried the day in MLB's promotion decisions. MLB's response in legal files to Hernandez's trial includes that Hernandez didn't behave as a team leader or work in the World Series. In addition to the Red Sox-raised delay, the MLB also listed other incidents in a response to Hernandez, including violating the league rules when he asked Homer Bailey to autograph 11 baseballs after a no-hitting game in 2012 and three of his calls were canceled by a pickup during the first four innings of a 2018 Yankees-Red Sox playoff game. And as of most recently, in May of 2021, Hernandez literally admitted that he basically guessed, and that's a real quote, on a crucial play during the Royals-Indians game, saying that the Kauffman Stadium outfield's walls scoreboard got in his way of seeing what happened on a play where the ball hit the dirt. Indians manager Terry Francona, the manager of the team that actually benefited from the bad call, criticized Hernandez for the play, saying he asked Hernandez himself, quote-unquote, why is this always happening when you're here? Hernandez is the perfect example of someone who has a huge ego, and when called out on his BS, plays the victim card. It's maddening to watch. As for why he's still employed by Major League Baseball, your guess is as good as mine. It legitimately makes zero sense. He's terrible at his job and impacts games in such a negative way. The players hate him, the managers and coaches hate him, the fans hate him, and like I said, he has a massive ego that he hates being challenged. Angel Hernandez is the worst umpire in baseball history.