Ángel Hernández, everyone’s favorite Major League Baseball (MLB) umpire to hate, seemed to be working overtime this weekend to make sure he aggravated as many baseball fans as possible with his questionable calls.
On Sunday (April 25), “MLB’s worst umpire” lived up to his reputation during a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers. According to Umpire Auditor, which keeps track of bad calls made by big-league umpires, Hernández missed 19 calls during the game.
The one that received the most attention because of the reaction of the batter happened during the bottom of the ninth inning when Hernández incorrectly called a strike on Brewers’ player Kyle Schwarber, who did not take kindly to the blown call, especially since it was a full count.
Once Hernández made the call, Schwarber erupted and slammed his bat to the ground. Hernández immediately tossed him out of the game, but not before Schwarber was able to tell him exactly what he thought of the call.
The Schwarber strike wasn’t the only bad call Hernández made Sunday. Earlier in the game, the ump called a strike on Phillies’ Jean Segura that was clearly a ball. Segura didn’t react as vigorously as his teammate would later in the game, but it was obvious he wasn’t happy with Hernández’s work.
After the game, at least one Phillies fan was able to tell Hernández how he felt about his skills as an umpire. “Ángel Hernández, you stink, and I don’t like you,” the fan screamed at Hernández who was driving out of the parking lot.