Angel Hernandez, considered by most baseball observers to be the worst plate official in the major leagues, will announce his retirement Tuesday.
USA Today Sports learned Monday that the 62-year-old would retire after more than three decades of work, having started his professional career in 1991. The Cuban-American officiated his last meeting, a 3-game victory. at 2 by the Chicago White Sox over the Cleveland Guardians at Guaranteed Rate Field, May 9.
• Read also: Blue Jays beat worst team
Controversies have marked Hernandez’s career, particularly in recent years. According to the Umpire Auditor website, he missed no less than 161 decisions during the 10 matches he officiated last year.
His detractors include the legendary Pedro Martinez, who called Hernandez “horrible” in 2018 after a playoff game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
In 2017, he also sued major league baseball for discrimination, saying he was passed over for a senior position and for World Series games because of his ethnic origins. The charges were dismissed in 2021.
“There is nothing better than practicing the profession you love. I remember the camaraderie of my colleagues and the friendships I created during my journey, including locker room managers in several cities,” Hernandez said in a statement shared by the ESPN network. The main person indicated that he was retiring to spend more time with his family.
It was on social networks that fans liked to be outraged by Angel Hernandez’s decisions, sequences of his blunders were regularly shared. A match in April this year actually gave Wyatt Langford serious headaches…
