page_title: Ángel Hernández (umpire)
section_title: Incidents and notable games
hierarchical_section_title: Ángel Hernández (umpire) / Umpiring career / Incidents and notable games
caption_attribution_description: English: MLB umpire Ángel Hernández in 2011.
context_page_description: Ángel Hernández is an umpire in Major League Baseball. He worked in the National League from 1991 to 1999, and has worked throughout MLB since 2000. In July 2017, Hernández filed a federal lawsuit against MLB, alleging racial discrimination led to him being overlooked for World Series games and crew chief promotions. He has since umpired in the 2017 All-Star Game, 2017 American League Division Series, and the 2018 American League Division Series in addition to regular-season work.
context_section_description: In 1998, Hernández was behind the plate for a game between the Mets and the Braves, the day before the All-Star break was to begin.  In the 11th inning Braves runner Michael Tucker tagged up on a fly ball to left. Replays showed the throw to catcher Mike Piazza clearly beating Tucker and that Tucker never touched the plate but Hernández ruled Tucker safe.  After the game Piazza called the call the worst he had ever seen in his baseball career, and other Mets opined that Hernández may have been in a hurry to get the game over with so they could all start their break.
  In 2001, Hernández was blamed for ejecting Steve McMichael, a former Chicago Bears football player, who had taken a shot at Hernández's umpiring over the Chicago Cubs PA system after being introduced as the guest singer for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". It was later revealed crew chief Randy Marsh had ordered the ejection.
  On July 17, 2006, Hernández was the third base umpire and ejected Dodgers' first base coach Mariano Duncan. When Duncan came out of the dugout to argue the ejection, he tossed his cap onto the ground in anger. After Duncan was removed from the field, Hernández picked up the cap and tossed it to a fan in the stands. The next day, Duncan taped his cap to his head before delivering the Dodgers' lineup to the umpires. Duncan was suspended for two games and fined by Major League Baseball as a result of the incident.
  Hernández was behind the plate for the final game at the old Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2008. He was umpiring at third base when Jered Weaver threw a no-hitter on May 2, 2012, and Hernández was the third base umpire on September 28, 2012, when Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates.
  On May 8, 2013, Hernández served as the crew chief for a game between the Oakland Athletics and the Cleveland Indians. In the ninth inning he 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 Hernández ejected him from the game. The Athletics lost the game 4–3. MLB later acknowledged 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 MLB, for critical comments he made about Hernández; Kinsler had said that Hernández was a bad umpire and "needs to find another job".
  During the 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons, Hernández's calls at first base were overturned in 14 out of 18 video reviews, for a 78% overturn rate, exceeding the 60% overturn rate for all first-base calls during that time period. 
  On October 8, 2018, Hernández was the first base umpire for Game 3 of the 2018 American League Division Series between the Yankees and Red Sox. Four out of five plays that he called which were submitted for video review were overturned. TBS analyst and Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez 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." Hernández declined to comment after the game, a blowout win for the Red Sox, but MLB issued a statement through a spokesperson: "There were several very close calls at first base tonight, and we are glad that instant replay allowed the umpiring crew to achieve the proper result on all of them."
  On April 8, 2019, Boston University published a study on 11 seasons of Major League Baseball data, almost 4 million pitches culled and analyzed, to determine the accuracy of balls and strikes called. The study found that Hernández performed stronger in 2018 than his average for 2008–2018. He averaged 19 incorrect calls a game, or 2.2 per inning. Even with this high error rate, compared to his peers, he performed better than others, escaping the 2018 Bottom 10 MLB list. During Spring training 2019, Hernández clai
caption: Hernández in 2011
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