Angel Hernandez recently announced his retirement. While it seems like Angel was considered a pretty good guy, he had become the poster boy for bad umpiring. Angel was probably responsible for punching out hundreds of frustrated hitters with bad strike calls during his career. Angel thus gave new meaning to the term, “Touched by an Angel.”
While Angel’s “highlights” have generally been clips of him making terrible calls behind the plate, my personal favorite Hernandez achievement occurred in 2018. In the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, Angel pulled off the umpiring hat trick. He had three calls overturned in one game.
Angel denies being forced to leave, but in fairness, it wouldn’t be the first force play he missed. Regardless, he’s now free to take his rightful place on my Mt. Rushmore of bad umpires.
Angel takes his place beside Eric Gregg
Eric Gregg was known for his ponderous size and equally ponderous strike zone. Eric did his work before we had K-Zone on our TV screens, but we didn’t need any help to see that Eric had a humongous strike zone.
Like Hernandez, Gregg also had a signature game. It occurred on Oct. 12, 1997. It was a playoff game between the Marlins and Braves. In that game, with a massive assist from Gregg, Livan Hernandez struck out 15 batters and led the Marlins to a 2-1 win in game five of their playoff series.
Eric made Enrico Pallazzo look like he had a tight strike zone.
Eric would have called that pitch that Bob Uecker said was just a bit outside a strike.
Take your place on the Mount Rushmore of bad umps, Eric.
And look, there’s Joe West!
In addition to his work as an umpire, “Country” Joe West also had a career in country western music. And seems ironic since his work as an umpire had so many players singing the blues. In a 2010 survey he was voted second worst umpire by MLB players.
West was considered to have a short fuse and not to be particularly good at his job by many.
As for a Joe West highlight, I would have to say it was when he kicked Nats’ GM, Mike Rizzo, out of a game when Rizzo was in the stands. It was during Covid and West got tired of Rizzo calling him out on some bad calls.
West umpired more game than any other umpire in MLB history. The guys on this Mt. Rushmore are monuments to the strength of the umpires’ union
And finally, there’s Ken Kaiser
In a poll taken in 1999 Kaiser was voted the worst umpire in the AL. Kaiser was also considered a flamboyant umpire. He also was noted for his weight. It was speculated that his weight topped 300 pounds.
That weight might have helped him during his days as a professional wrestler, but as an umpire, not so much.
Kaiser also wrote a book called, Planet of the Umps. An excerpt from his book stated his “long-range plan was lunch” –
I have no particular highlight for Kaiser, but his body of work speaks for itself.
So, who’s on your Mount Rushmore of bad umpires?
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