Ángel Hernández (umpire)

Ángel Hernández

Ángel Hernández (born August 26, 1961 in Havana, Cuba) is an umpire in Major League Baseball. He has worked in the National League from 1991 to 1999, and throughout both major leagues since 2000. He has umpired in the World Series in 2002 and 2005, as well as the 1999 All-Star Game. He has officiated in four League Championship Series – two in each league (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004), and in five National League Division Series (1997, 1998, 2002, 2005, and 2011). Hernandez also worked Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS as an injury fill-in. Hernández wears the uniform number 55 (He wore number 5 while in the National League, but the number was taken by Dale Scott when the umpires were consolidated under MLB in 2000).

Hernández has been involved in a number of high-profile incidents with players and even fans. On August 7, 2001, he ejected a guest singer of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field. The ejectee was former Chicago Bears player Steve McMichael, who had taken a shot at Hernandez's umpiring after being introduced as the guest singer.

On July 17, 2006, Hernández ejected Dodgers' first base coach Mariano Duncan while umpiring third base. When Duncan came out of the dugout to argue the ejection, he tossed his cap onto the ground in anger. Immediately after his peers brought Duncan back into the dugout, Hernández picked up the cap and tossed it to a fan in the stands. The next day Duncan taped his cap onto his head right before delivering the Dodgers' lineup to the umpires.

Hernández in 2011.

Hernández has had multiple confrontations with Atlanta Braves infielder Julio Lugo. In April 2007, Lugo attempted to call timeout and stepped out of the batter's box just as the pitcher went into his windup, and Hernández called the resulting pitch a strike. This began an argument between Lugo and Hernández, but did not result in any ejection. On May 27, 2008, Lugo was among multiple Red Sox who asked for a check swing ruling from Hernández, umpiring at third base. Hernández stared at Lugo, Lugo asked why he was looking at him, and Hernández abruptly ejected Lugo from the game. When Boston manager Terry Francona asked why Lugo was thrown out, Hernández ejected him as well.

In a 1999 survey conducted by the Major League Baseball Players Association, Hernández was ranked 31st out of 36 National League umpires. However, later that year Hernández was asked to return for the 2000 season while 13 of his NL colleagues were let go. Given his low ranking, the Philadelphia Inquirer termed the retention of Hernández one of the "surprises" of the 1999 purge.

A 2006 Sports Illustrated poll of Major League players listed Hernandez as the third worst umpire in MLB.

Hernández was behind the plate for the final game at the old Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2008.

In a June 2, 2010 game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays, Hernández made a controversial call after the Blue Jays appealed that Sean Rodriguez did not tag third base when rounding for home, resulting in the Rays losing a run. Replays clearly showed third base was in fact tagged. The night before he ejected Joe Maddon after he came out to argue when Carlos Pena asked for time, but it wasn't granted to him, resulting in a strikeout in the top of the 9th in a close ballgame. Besides this call, Maddon argued that Hernández had been calling a very wide strike zone against the Rays, but not against the Blue Jays throughout the game. Following the June 2 game Hernández said "I have no comment, The guy missed the bag."

For the second half of the 2011 baseball season Hernández was moved from Joe West's umpiring crew to Gerry Davis's crew.

External links

• Major league profile
• Retrosheet